Fury as protected tree is felled (From Free Press Series)

Fury as protected tree is felled

A MATURE Ash tree that was to have been at the heart of the new Riverside Walk Development - was felled last week by builders.

The tree was planted during the reign of Queen Victoria and was to have been the centrepiece of a new development of 47 homes on land behind the Somerfield supermarket and Nailors Lane.

It was also one of the conditions imposed that the tree was to be preserved when the application from Galliard Homes Ltd was presented and approved by Monmouthshire County Council planners earlier this year.

The healthy mature Ash tree was not subject to a preservation order as it was already situated within a conservation area. It had been protected from any accidental damage by a steel fence.

The claim of any indiscretion has been rejected by the developers who have said that they would be replacing the ash tree with a mature cedar tree.

George Weston, the council's tree officer visited the site on Monday and following an immediate investigation he said: "The developers do not appear to have abided by the rules.

"The council will be looking to take appropriate action to secure a conviction under the Town and Country planning Act 1990."

Builders chopped down the tree on Friday following instructions to fell the tree and remove it from the site.

In a report by tree surveyor Alan Engley who concluded that minor surgery should be carried out on the multi-stemmed tree. Work included cutting one or two branches, thinning out the canopy and fix a few bracing cables to enable it to prosper for another 100 years.

Sue Chivers, Secretary of Monmouth action Group said: "The whole development was planned and devised around the tree and should have remained standing. "I'm fed up with all these developers coming into the town and taking it upon themselves to destroy the amenities."

Nick Tucker-Brown a spokesman for Galliard Homes Ltd said: "We were subjected to a number of planning conditions and one of these was to raise the ground levels to help flood alleviation.

"But this would have left the tree in a hollow, and we were told by a specialist that it would not have survived like this because of the change in the water table.

"We decided to remove the ash tree and replace it with a cedar tree that would survive in the new conditions."