Anger after 'broom handle' trees approved to block out huge Preston warehouses

A developer that caused uproar by planting tiny saplings to replace the mature trees it cut down during construction of an industrial estate in Preston has had the swap formally approved by councillors - in spite of initially having pledged to leave the taller specimens untouched.

- by Paul Faulkner

The 15 metre-high trees that HBS Group removed from the edge of the site - at the junction of Eastway and D'Urton Lane in Fulwood - would have helped screen the three giant warehouses the firm built on the plot.

However, it is estimated their replacements - branded 'broom handles' by one angry local councillor - will take around 30 years to provide the same level of coverage. They are currently dwarfed by the 12 metre-tall buildings that stand behind them.

Nevertheless, Preston City Council's planning committee has now rubberstamped the new planting-exactly four years after the established trees, along Eastway and at the D'Urton Lane roundabout, were felled.

HBS Group did not require permission to remove them as they were not covered by tree protection orders.

That meant the firm was not in breach of the planning approval granted by the authority, in April 2021, for the trio of grey structures - which have since been described as an "eyesore" by locals.