Fury as avenue of trees is destroyed

11.42.23am UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 25th Oct 2007

Residents of The Drive at Greengates are furious that a developer has chopped down a beautiful avenue of tress only hours before they were served with a Tree Preservation Order by Bradford Council.

Local ward councillor Jeanette Sunderland said,

"What has happened here is nothing more than outright vandalism. A beautiful avenue of trees has been destroyed to make way for yet more houses. There is no doubt that this action was taken to thwart the actions of local people.

What makes this doubly tragic is that since 2005 local residents have been asking the Council to protect the trees with a Tree Preservation Order. There pleas to the council seem to have been ignored. I have asked for an investigation as to why this request was not carried out.

The Tree Preservation Order arrived hours after the trees had been cut down. Local residents have really been let down and the planet has lost a beautiful avenue of trees.

I shall be looking very closely at any planning application for this land that is put before the council and expect the developer to put right this act of vandalism."