Residents have been left perplexed after mysterious orange marks appeared on trees in their neighbourhood. It was initially feared they had been made to identify trees due to be removed to make way for a new cycle lane in the Heald Green area of Stockport.
Around 40 trees on Wilmslow Road bore the marks - far more than were expected to be lost to the scheme - leading to horrified residents tying ribbons around their trunks as a mark of protest. To date a petition against the felling of trees on Wilmslow Road has attracted more than 1,600 signatures.
The cycle path is being built in connection with Bloor Homes controversial 325-property development on fields previously owned by the Seashell Trust, which was approved on appeal in 2020. But the council says it has not made the markings and, following a recent review, only around a dozen trees are expected to be felled.
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Meanwhile the ward councillors - all Independent Ratepayers - say their enquiries have also established they were not made by Bloor Homes or its contractors. The mystery has led to the trio - who opposed the development before it was approved on appeal - to suggest it may have been a deliberate attempt to mislead people over the number of trees that would be lost.
But some residents claim they have failed to keep locals properly informed - and a council letter which said work was to begin in February/March led to people drawing their own conclusions. A statement intended for social media and supplied to the Local Democracy Reporting Service reads: “You, the councillors, allowed the information vacuum to exist while residents responded to the only information they had: the letter from SMBC [the council].
“The orange dots were seen at the same time and were placed there by someone with a specific role. The note [on the ratepayers Facebook page] attempts to cast residents as the guilty party by leading readers to believe the residents placed these orange dots on the trees.”
While the wording of the councillors statement raises concerns over the misleading of - rather than by - residents, the group has called on their representatives to retract the statement. They also raise concerns over plans being developed behind the scenes, before being reveaed to local people.
“This conflict of timelines, combined with uncoordinated actions and refusal to engage with residents has caused massive confusion and concern,” their statement adds.
Another resident, who approached the LDRS separately says while Heald Green is a a popular and prosperous area, 'it is also important to protect what is precious such as green spaces.
This he says, includes 'trees that may or may not be earmarked for felling to support improvements and additions to the current cycle path that could be constructed without tree removal. "It seems that residents views were not sought in the matter," he added.
However, the ward councillors - led by Coun Anna Charles-Jones - say they have been both responsive and responsible since the issue came to light.
In a statement they add: “Once we became aware of the issue we immediately published a statement to advise residents we were looking into how the spots came to be sprayed on the trees. We needed to establish the facts, which required council officers to investigate the matter.”
“We convened a site visit involving all three councillors and several council officers as soon as we possibly could. Following this, three working days after our first statement, we were able to put out the clarification statement which we feel was a reasonable time frame given the complexities of the situation.”
The councillors say they will continue to update the public as new information becomes available, while esidents are always welcome to contact them directly with any concerns.
Stockport council says it is aware of the concerns that have been raised about the planned removal of trees from verges on Wilmslow Road.
A spokesperson added: “We have not yet confirmed plans ahead of construction, however after a review, we have reduced from approximately 20 to about a dozen, the number of trees we expect will need to be removed.
“We do not know who has recently sprayed approximately 40 trees with orange dots, but this implies significantly more trees to be removed than would be required by the proposed scheme.”
Bloor Homes was contacted for comment.
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