ANGRY residents in a Suffolk village have vowed to take action after learning more than 100 trees they fought to protect could be torn down by a developer.
ANGRY residents in a Suffolk village have vowed to take action after learning more than 100 trees they fought to protect could be torn down by a developer.
Residents in Red Lodge, near Newmarket, are furious at the prospect of 142 Scots pine trees being taken down near their homes in Warren Road to provide access both to the village centre and the school.
Resident Betty Duncan said she had campaigned for the trees to be protected when the estate was built, and believed a preservation order had been imposed.
“We are furious - we were assured they would be protected,” she said.
As well as the application to take down 142 trees in Warren Road, Crest Nicholson, the developer, is hoping to win consent to remove 85 Scots pine and beech trees, and 29 Scots pine and silver birch trees from the Kings Warren Estate in the village.
The developer has defended its application claiming it is going through the “proper channels” and vowing to plant new trees elsewhere.
Forest Heath District Council said it would be checking the status of the trees before deciding if it would give the go-ahead for the three separate planning applications.
Mrs Duncan and other residents of Warren Road are now planning to campaign against the trees being removed, as they believe they provide privacy for the estate.
“The trees are mature, there is no need for them to be taken down,” she said. “They can be a nuisance in the winter when all the leaves fall off but in the spring and summer its wonderful to see them - you feel as if you are actually in the country. I'm very bitter about it. I just think it's disgusting.”
Lisa Chambers, Forest Heath district councillor for Red Lodge, said she would be looking into why so many trees had to be taken down.
Michael Smith, design and planning manager at Crest Nicholson, said: “We are indeed taking down those trees - we are making several spaces to get through to the school, the village centre and the playing field.
“There is still a preservation order on the trees and that is why we are going through the correct channels - and we will be planting trees back.”
lorraine.price@eadt.co.uk
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