Century-old trees saved for second time

The trees line a green area in central Cambridge known as St Matthew's Piece

Three trees that have been described as "amongst the most glorious in Cambridge" have for a second time been saved from being chopped down.

Cambridge City Council has refused to grant permission to fell three London plane trees at St Matthew's Centre.

The application to chop the trees down had been put forward by the insurance company for a residential property in Sturton Street, due to concerns about the trees causing subsidence at the house.

However, objectors questioned whether they were actually causing ongoing damage to the property and urged councillors not to allow the 125-year-old trees to be cut down.

The trees were first saved after a planning meeting in 2023 - campaigners at the time highlighted the circumference was three-people wide

Three previous applications have been made in relation to the three trees in recent years.

Officers told councillors at a planning committee meeting on Wednesday that the latest application to cut down the trees did not provide any additional information about the damage to the house.

However, officers said they were satisfied from the evidence they had that there was a "causal link between the damage to the building and the trees".

Officers explained that if the city council refused permission to cut down the trees it could face a compensation claim and might have to pay for underpinning work to the house.

They added that information provided by the applicant claimed the cost of this work had increased from when previous applications were submitted, to £306,500.

Officers said the value of the trees was "undisputed", but that councillors needed to balance this value with the risk of facing a possible compensation claim.

A number of objectors came to the meeting to urge the city council not to allow the trees to be cut down.

The group Friends of St Matthew's Piece questioned whether the trees were actually causing ongoing damage to the building.

They presented councillors with a new structural engineer's report, which they said did not show a link between the trees and cracking in the house.

The planning committee agreed unanimously to refuse the application to cut the three trees down.