Poplars in south car park felled 24th November

12.00.00am GMT Mon 24th Nov 2008

All three LibDem borough councillors, Tony Skottowe, Louise Lotz and Malcolm Cowan, plus local party chair Nigel Quinton were at the Stanborough Lakes this morning to witness the wanton destruction of the poplar trees in the south car park. A number of other concerned residents also attended, but others could not bear to view the trees coming down.

The trees were cut down on the orders of Cllr Clare Berry, portfolio holder for Environment and Community, despite strong representations from the community and in the face of expert opinion that there was no need to clear all the trees at once.

Said Tony Skottowe, leader of the Lib Dems on the council, and councillor for Handside Ward: "This is a very sad day for the town. The council has on several occasions shown their contempt for both the public and their colleagues on the council. When I called for an examination of the way that they communicate with the public, I was simply abused by the leadership. Their attitude was shown up by council leader John Dean actually having the gall to congratulate Cllr Berry, during a full council meeting, for 'not bothering' to turn up to a public meeting at the Lakes."

A cleartrack employee cutting down one of the poplars

The work is being carried out by Cleartrack. This was the company whose affiliate ACF first recommended the clearance of all the trees, a recommendation that was shown to be flawed by the subsequent report commissioned by the council after the public outcry in August.

Malcolm Cowan, who is county councillor for Handside and Peartree commented: "There is plenty of expert opinion that pollarding these trees would have been a perfectly acceptable way to address the safety issue, and would have allowed the council time to progressively replace the trees without causing such devastation. It would also have been more cost effective. It seems Cllr Berry and her cabinet colleagues have no interest in public opinion or rational argument, nor in safeguarding public money."

ENDS

For further information, please contact Nigel Quinton.

Further contact details at http://www.welhatlibdems.co.uk

Call for Scrutiny of trees and ecology of the park.

Follow the link for more information about the trees at this site.

Call for felling of council leadership.

Public told poplars to be felled in September.

Poplars to be felled in September, public told.

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