Council response to tree felling

Below is a reponse from a Council officer to the outrageous felling of trees on Church Road and the subsequent response from a local resident.

There are many issues here but two stand out for me; the obvious bias in favour of the developer and the complete lack of empathy with the resident concerned and the loss suffered by the local community.

There were no outstanding preservation orders on the trees on the site and the granting of planning permission for the new retail development allowed Lovell to remove trees from the site to prepare it for new development.  No guarantees have ever been given to residents that existing trees would remain as part of the new development.  The small bungalow development that will back onto the existing housing at Hampden Grove has only secured outline planning permission at this stage and when Lovell submits their reserved matters, they have advised that this will include the planting of new mature trees and hedges to create a new green boundary.  Admittedly, these trees will not be of the size and scale of those removed but their removal has been necessary to prepare for a £2million new development on the site - a development that is greatly needed in Church Road.  Lovell carried out a full tree survey prior to submitting their planning application.  It turns out that many of the trees were removed because they were unsafe and dangerously overhanging existing homes.  The contractor removing the trees found no evidence of squirrels living on the site.