Tree-lovers protest as chainsaws go in
A 'chainsaw massacre' in which more than 100 trees were chopped down has angered residents.
Scores of stumps have been left along a 500-yard stretch of Horndean Road in Emsworth.
Residents, some of whom have won awards for establishing a successful tree preservation scheme in the village, feel betrayed they weren't told of the month-long felling scheme by Havant Borough Council.
Frances Jannaway, of Bosmere Gardens, chairwoman of the Emsworth Tree Wardens, said: 'I'm so surprised that this has happened, especially chopping so many trees down in one go.
'We have been so busy doing loads of replanting nearby using our own money and for this to happen without the council even telling us has upset me a lot.'
Ray Cobbett, of Emsworth Friends of the Earth, said the council had gone too far.
'They will call this the Horndean Road chainsaw massacre,' he said.
'So many trees have been hacked down, it just seems unnecessary. The Tree Wardens have done such good work here working with the council and they go and do something like this.'
The council said the work was to remove dead trees and, by law, they didn't have to inform residents.
But Ken Gilchrist, chairman of Emsworth Residents' Assoc-iation, said it would have been good practice to tell locals what was going to happen.
'I am astonished they have done this without telling anybody.
'The Tree Wardens should have been told – it's just the principle of it,' he said.
Sally Foster, spokeswoman for Havant Borough Council, said the work was carried out by the authority's ground maintenance staff since the first week in February.
'It was part of our winter maintenance, we removed dead trees, undergrowth and clear overgrown areas across the borough,' she said.
'We only removed small trees, not fully mature ones and the officers didn't need to inform the public.'
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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