Winter 21/22 saw our region battered by a series of serious storms which caused extensive damage to our estate uprooting or severely damaging over 500 trees across our green spaces.
Havannah and Three Hills Nature Reserve suffered particularly badly during these storms, with hundreds of trees coming down within the woodland areas of the reserve. Due to the extent of the damage and potential risks of fallen trees and branches shifting we took the decision to close off the woodland areas in late January as a pre-emptive measure, and these areas have remained cordoned off for the safety of our park users while we worked to clear the worst of the damage and make the area safe.
After over 60 working days on the site, we are delighted to announce that we have now felled the trees which were identified as health and safety risks, which means that we are able to reopen Havannah Three Hills Nature Reserve for everyone to enjoy.
Please note that, while all main perimeter paths are open and accessible, some of the unofficial woodland routes are still blocked by trees which have been laid safely at ground level. In some instances, we may choose to leave the fallen trees in situ, providing valuable ecological benefits for the reserve, and in others we plan to remove these over the coming months.
This work will be carried out as part of the wider clean-up efforts across our 33 parks, so in the meantime we ask that you to choose your routes accordingly and avoid taking matters into your own hands. Any tree work, large or small on site must be done safely for yourself and other park users and so must have prior approval and be signed off by our ranger team at Urban Green Newcastle.
Again, we would like to thank you for your continued patience and understanding while the emergency works were carried out and for the next few months while we work on clearing the remaining woodland paths.