Trees to be axed to widen road

FELLING WILL TAKE PLACE ALONG TAVISTOCK ROAD

- WILLIAM TELFORD

MORE than 150 trees are to be chopped down to make way for the £45m widening of a major Plymouth road. Plymouth City Council will start cutting down trees along Tavistock Road this winter as part of the ambitious A386 upgrade.

The council, which suffered severe criticism when it destroyed 119 trees to make way for the Armada Way revamp in the city centre, has called the Woolwell cull a "difficult decision" and said it understands citizens' concerns.

The authority has stressed it will be planting trees around the city, not necessarily in the area where they are chopped down, and said the Woolwell to The George improvements will result in an increase in biodiversity. It said it has tried to minimise the impact of the road scheme but the work has to go ahead.

It said: "To make the improvements at Woolwell we will unfortunately need to remove around 130 individual trees as well as up to 15 small groups of trees, as well as shrubbery and vegetation."