'Action plan' to rebuild trust after tree felling

LABOUR ACCUSED OF BEING COMPLICIT OVER ARMADA WAY

- By ALISON STEPHENSON

POLITICIANS of all parties will oversee an action plan to rebuild public confidence in Plymouth City Council after the “traumatic” tree felling of 2023. They have been urged not to make the issue a “political football”.

Eighteen recommendations have been made in an Independent Learning Review which highlighted weaknesses in public engagement, governance and project management at the time of the episode in Armada Way, which is still creating tension in the city.

More than 100 trees were chopped down after a decision by the then Conservative administration as part of a £13 million regeneration scheme, but there was public outcry and legal challenges followed.

The debacle cost taxpayers £3.3million and the damage to the council’s damage was “unquantifiable”. At a council meeting this week to discuss the findings of the review, the authority acknowledged that it needed to improve.

Current Conservative leader Cllr Andy Lugger (Southway), who took on the role after former leader Richard Bingley resigned over the issue, “apologised unreservedly” for any weaknesses of the administration at the time and made a plea for members “to move forward together” as a council. He said councillors and officers welcomed the insight into the areas where there had been “shortcomings and missed opportunities”.