WOODFORD GREEN: Residents pine for lost trees

4:00pm Sunday 18th November 2007

A PROTECTED tree which narrowly escaped the axe is under threat again, according to worried residents.

The Weymouth Pine was the sole survivor after four trees covered by preservation orders were illegally felled by Loughton-based developers Galliard Homes in the car park of 109 to 117 Snakes Lane West, Woodford Green, in March.

Patrick McGurk, 79, of nearby Aston Close, believes that the developers are trying to get around the orders to make the construction go more smoothly.

He said: "A friend saw a workman for the developers looking at the tree and when asked what was going to happen he said the tree was going to be pulled down and the order had been rescinded. We know that's not true."

The company won planning permission to build 12 flats on the site on condition the mature trees were kept. But four were destroyed.

A spokeswoman for Galliard Homes said she had no knowledge of employees examining trees on the site.

She added: "If any trees have tree preservation orders on them they will not be removed. Of course they may need to be given a bit of a trim to allow construction to go ahead with ease."

Woodford Green Amenity Group chairman Geoff Stimpson said: "The £20,000 fine the developers could receive is peanuts compared with they would make by selling the flats."

A spokeswoman for the council moved to reassure neighbours: "The council is still investigating legal action, but Galliard has also agreed to fund a new landscaping plan and tree planting scheme once the development has been completed."