More than 100 mature trees have been cut down in the centre of Plymouth in a move campaigners said was reminiscent of the needless felling of thousands of trees in Sheffield.
Despite widespread opposition from local people, the Conservative council in the Devon city cordoned off the trees with metal fencing, sent in security guards and in the cover of darkness on Tuesday night, destroyed more than 100 with chainsaws over a few hours.
The move came within days of a highly critical report on the needless destruction of trees by Sheffield city council – known as the “chainsaw massacre”. An inquiry report found the council was guilty of “a serious and sustained failure of strategic leadership”.
Some 16,000 people in Plymouth had signed a petition to save the mature trees, which line a walkway from the sea to the city and the council agreed in February to community engagement. But within hours of that ending, on Tuesday night the chainsaws moved in and within hours more than 100 trees were felled.
At 1am the local campaign to save the trees, Straw, obtained an injunction that halted the felling and saved 15 trees. They vow to continue their fight.
“We wrote to the city council and pointed out the parallels between what was going on here and Sheffield,” said Alison White, of Straw. “But they said it was not a comparable situation. How is it not comparable? They have needlessly chopped down healthy mature trees. The people of Plymouth could not have made their views clearer that they were against this. It is a disgrace.”
Luke Pollard, the Labour MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, said: “It’s a scene of environmental devastation and utter council vandalism. I’m appalled at the actions of the Tory council. They have not listened to local people.”
Overnight Plymouth’s Conservative council chopped down nearly 100 trees in the city centre. It’s a scene of environmental devastation and utter council vandalism. I’m appalled at the actions of the Tory Council. Sad day for our city. #plymouth #ArmadaWay pic.twitter.com/YU5veZJtlF
— Luke Pollard MP (@LukePollard) March 15, 2023
Plymouth city council is felling the trees as part of a £12.7m revamp of Armada Way. Part of the money is coming from the government’s Transforming Cities Fund for walking and cycling. The council said it had carried out “meaningful engagement” with local people – which began on 6 February – and on Tuesday night its leader, Conservative councillor Richard Bingley, signed off a decision notice for the felling to go ahead.
The Woodland Trust said they had been involved in talks in Plymouth to find a positive way forward and were shocked at the overnight felling of the trees.
Other councils are also locked in battles with local people as they attempt to allow the felling of mature trees, despite the report on Sheffield, which said the council there retreated into a bunker mentality and was out of touch with the views of significant numbers of local people.
In Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, campaigners are fighting to save a historic avenue of more than 40 lime trees, which are 80 to 100 years old and covered by tree protection orders. The trees have been given a temporary stay of execution after people campaigned to stop a developer, Vistry, from chopping them down as part of the access to a dual carriageway in a major housing development on the eastern side of the town.
The barrister and environmental campaigner Paul Powlesland was arrested when he climbed one of the trees in Wellingborough as the police attempted to remove people by force. Marion Turner-Hawes, who is leading the local campaign to save the trees, said there had been no transparency about how many were identified for felling or exactly why.
She said: “When this first started there were 61 trees to be felled, then we found proof in documents it was 11 and then on 20 February they took down 15 trees. We managed to stop them from taking the rest. These trees all have tree protection orders on them and they are not proving the logic of their argument to take them down.”
In Haringey, north London, people have been fighting to save a 120-year-old London plane tree. Haringey Tree Protectors have occupied a plane tree in the borough for almost a year after news it was to be felled. But Haringey council took possession of the tree early on Sunday, sealing off the surrounding area with barriers and deploying security officers.
The council has now put round-the-clock surveillance by security guards on the tree to stop protesters climbing it. Haringey says it has to be removed after the council and an insurance company said it was contributing to subsidence in nearby housing.
Powlesland, who is working with people in Haringey and Wellingborough, said: “There has been a resurgence of this type of felling across the country but there has also been a resurgence in the number of local people who are willing to stand up and protect trees.
Callout
“The key problem is for many local authorities it is like putting the fox in charge of the hen house. They are supposed to protect trees but often they are the owners of them and the people who destroy them, or they just don’t do their job properly to protect them.”
Plymouth city council said: “Contractors moved on to the site last night to prepare for the Armada Way project to get under way. This work involved a plan to remove 129 trees, keep 24 existing trees and leave a further three trees which had been earmarked for removal but had been identified as having birds nesting in them.
“The work started at around 8pm, once the city centre site had been made safe and secured as a construction site. For reasons of public safety and impact on the city centre, and given the size of the tree machinery due to come on to Armada Way, we scheduled the works to be carried out at night.”
The council said its final design changed after the “engagement programme” and would now include the planting of 169 semi-mature trees and a commitment to investigate wider tree planting in the city centre.
The leader of North Northants council said he was pleased a pause in the felling had been agreed. However, the councillor Jason Smithers said: “The council remain satisfied that Stanton Cross Developments have the right to carry out the works under the statutory undertakers’ exemption provided by national legislation.”
The Guardian has also contacted Haringey council for comment.
