Calverton Parish Council have stumped up £20k to pay for the removal of protected trees which a councillor claims have been damaged by a housing developers during building work.
The trees, which are estimated to be around sixty years old, were on the boundary of William Lee Park and the new Willow Rise housing development from Bellway Homes.
The council said around 35 trees will have to be felled due to root damage caused by the development of the new houses up against the park boundary
Calverton Parish Council chairman Cllr Andrew Meads told Gedling Eye that the developer did a survey of the trees four years ago and they were all classed as ‘healthy’.
He said: “As a condition of being granted planning permission Bellway Homes submitted a tree protection plan for our trees. They needed to put a road in and put bin stores up against our boundary and didn’t carry out the agreed tree protection plan and instead cut through all the roots.
“Now we are having to have the trees cut down, Bellway say it’s nothing to do with them, and won’t pay towards the cost at all.
“Our tree surgeons have been on site this week and have been cutting down some of the mature hardwood trees.
But a spokesperson for Bellway Homes said they were not responsible for the damage and have always adhered to the tree protection plan put in place during construction of the new houses
They said: “Before construction work began at Willow Rise, a method statement for protecting trees was approved by Gedling Borough Council. Our staff and sub-contractors have adhered to this throughout the build programme.
“No homes have been built in the areas of the development which are close to the root protection zone, so no digging into this area was required beyond topsoil removal.
“Our specialist arboriculturalist recently returned to Willow Rise to assess the trees on land belonging to the parish council. They concluded that many do not require removal. Those that do are not on the border with Willow Rise.
They added: “We plan to share the full report with the parish council once we receive it.”
A spokesman for Gedling Borough Council confirmed they had carried out an investigation.
He said: “Calverton Parish Council contacted our Planning Team about an issue with trees at the Bellway site.
“Our Tree Officer visited the site and informed the Parish Council that there was no tree preservation orders in the area.
“Our investigation has found that there has been no breach of any planning regulations and no further action is required from Gedling Borough Council.”
I think both parties are missing the point
No they’re not
more vandalism of our natural world by greedy developers and incompetent councils….
no doubt non of the above will be held to account?!?!?!