Up to 21 mature trees set to be torn down in central Brixton as work begins on new housing development

Brixton Buzz has been inundated with angry messages from local residents who have learned that almost all of the trees lining Somerleyton Road in central Brixton are set to be felled. …

Nov 12, 2026 - 16:00

Up to 21 mature trees set to be torn down in central Brixton as work begins on new housing development

Brixton Buzz has been inundated with angry messages from local residents who have learned that almost all of the trees lining Somerleyton Road in central Brixton are set to be felled.

Up to 21 trees are expected to be torn down to make way for a new housing development which will flank the western side of the road,

[Above: most of the trees along Somerleyton Road pictured in this developer document will be torn down.]

[Above: view of the proposed development]

Work has already started on ripping up the trees, with two being cut down yesterday, and the rest are expected to go over the next ten days or so.

They’re having to make way for a new housing scheme which is the result of a collaboration between Lambeth Council and the Higgins Group.

The development promises “379 new homes, including 56% affordable homes, 127 for social rent, and extra care housing for local people,” in a ‘new townscape’ offering a ‘civic plaza and re-provided gym.’

Speaking to local residents, no one seemed to have been told that the scheme would involve such a huge loss of mature trees, and many feel that that they have not been adequately consulted about these plans.

In fact, looking through the published public consultation documents we could find no mention of an entire street’s worth of trees getting chopped down.

Nearby resident Stewart Heard commented:

It’s an outrage that such amazing and old trees have been cut down, trees which have provided shade, habitats and character have not been saved when they should have.

Consultations

It was noted back in January 2025, that the public consultation promised that the development would comprise of a “green corridor, complemented by gardens and courtyards which retain and introduce new trees and biodiverse planting to Somerleyton Road.”

This document from Higgins also promises a “green neighbourhood” where the planner pledges that it will be “retaining as many mature trees as possible and planting new ones.”

In a letter to the council, local resident Lorna Caseley said:

It seems to me that Higgins and the Council have been entirely underhand about this, putting no general communications about it out for anyone not directly involved in planning or local committees.

If I had known the scale of the tree removal I would’ve absolutely been adding my voice to the objections.

I’m concerned about the loss of habitat, the loss of greenery in the area my child is growing up and also the impact it’s going to have on our local air quality.

I urge you to put a halt to the removal of all these trees to see if we can save some more of them, as the current scale of removal totally reneges on any promise of ‘preserving mature trees’.

Digging deep

It was only after doing some considerable digging, did we find an almost-indecipherable, 15-page planning document entitled ‘Arboricultural Method Statement‘ which features baffling diagrams of maps with scribbles on (see example above) accompanied by acres of technical jargon.

Heck, it’s almost like they intentionally buried the controversial details in papers so technical and hard to understand that ordinary people were unlikely to ever read it.

[Above: the illustration from the Higgins document shows the completed project featuring large trees lining Somerleyton Road]

Brixton Buzz spoke to Boyd from the Book Stop Brixton project and asked if he’d known about the plans to destroy so many healthy trees.

He told us:

I’ve been asking Higgins the last 6 months to send a plan and they didn’t send one.

I got a friend to go through the planning application in detail to find the details about the tree felling.

Higgins have not listened to us at all which is in the Newman Francis consultation report which I have a copy of…

Boyd, who is also a Somerleyton Community Panel Review member, added:

I had to call Higgins out at the last community panel review meeting for failing to meet me …twice…for appointments they had arranged.

Two of the blocks going up are for private sale.

All those trees will be going over the next week and a half.