Campaigners call for 'transparency' from council over tree felling order

THE long-running saga of Falmouth’s tree felling, which has seen three protests since the end of last year, continues.

- by LEE TREWHELA

Cornwall Council has now given the timing of when three 60-year-old lime trees will be chopped down and replaced with four new trees on Trelawney Road in the town.

However, a protest group of residents which was formed in a bid to stop the healthy trees being cut down has accused the council of "misinformation" and is still demanding to know exactly what the legal reasons are for the trees having to come down.

This in turn has now elicited a statement from the Liberal Democrat leader of the council, in which he states: "What I can tell you about the things I'm not allowed to tell you about is also a bit of an issue."

The trees that the council planned to remove were given a reprieve earlier this year when the Stop the Chop! campaign group carried out much-publicised protests. Last month the council said that the trees will still have to be felled.

A spokesperson said the unitary authority had previously been unable to give the reasons why because of court proceedings. The council revealed that six separate services including streetlight power cables, water pipes and internet cables run beneath the footpath between a boundary wall and the trees, where they are tangled with tree roots.

The surface of the road and the footway had also been disrupted by roots, and kerbs have been removed because they were unsafe.