Timing suggested for felling of 60-year-old trees

Cornwall Council says it has a legal obligation to remove the trees

Plans to cut down three 60-year-old lime trees in a Falmouth street have been given a time-frame for the work to be carried out.

Cornwall Council said the trees in Trelawney Road were due to be removed because the roots were causing damage to the pavement, road and a nearby property. Options to keep the trees had been looked into but utilities under the footpath had made it unachievable, it said.

They are due to be replaced with four new trees, which the council suggested must take place between October and March.

A protest group of residents has accused the council of "misinformation" and is demanding to know exactly what the legal reasons are for the trees having to come down.

Cornwall Council says options to keep the trees while preventing further damage have been investigated

Plans were put on hold earlier this year following public protests but last month the council said that the trees would still have to be felled.

The local authority said it had not previously been able to share details of the damage or explain why it was necessary to remove the lime trees due to court proceedings, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

It said in a statement that options to keep the trees while preventing further damage had been investigated but utilities under the footpath had made it unachievable.

'Provide clarity'

Deb Newman, from the Stop the Chop! campaign group, suggested Cornwall Council should tell people what the legal obligation was to cut down the trees.

She said: "Cornwall Council has already confirmed that it was not the intention of its last statement to attribute utilities damage as the foundation for decision-making, so what is?"

Councillor Laurie Magowan, who represents the area at Cornwall Council, said: "It was hoped that this long-awaited statement would provide clarity on the legal justification for felling these mature lime trees.

"Instead, they allude to (unproven) historic and ongoing impact on utility services and street infrastructure that does not provide legitimate legal reason to fell the trees."

Cornwall Council said: "We have extended another invitation to Stop the Chop! to meet with us before any scheduled work takes place."

It added that to give the four new trees the best chance of taking root this year they should be planted as early into the planting season, from October to March, as possible.

It said for safety reasons, part of Trelawney Road would need to be closed while the work took place.

"Temporary Traffic Regulation Orders typically require a 12-week statutory lead-in period, so we need to begin this process now," the council added.