Council to receive petition to save palm trees

A petition to save two much-loved palm trees on an esplanade in a seaside town is to be discussed at a local council meeting.

Since Weymouth Town Council announced the removal of the trees, local people and some tourists have said they want them to remain in place.

Now it has been agreed that an attempt will be made to replant the palm trees elsewhere in the town.

800 paper and 350 verified online signatures have been collected to preserve the trees.

Miranda Tunnicliffe, who is one of the campaigners who set up the petition, said she was horrified to hear they were being removed because "they are iconic."

"Why move them if they are happy where they are, why not just get some more and put them all the way along the seafront.

"I am hoping the petition will make Weymouth Town Council think twice about their decision," she said.

A spokesperson from the town council said they knew a petition concerning the two palm trees was due to be presented to them.

"The recommendation set out in the agenda papers is for Full Council to refer the petition to the Environment and Services Committee for a response," they said.

The palm trees were planted in 2012 ahead of the olympics.

The palm trees were planted in 2012, in the run-up to the Olympics and were only supposed to be temporary.

The town council has argued that the plants had grown significantly, damaging stonework planters and pushing out roots, making the area around them uneven.

In March, the Environment and Services Committee discussed what to do about it and agreed to remove the two biggest trees, repair the stonework planters and replace the trees with smaller palm trees.

The council says if the other remaining palm trees start to cause damage, then they will be removed and replaced with new smaller palm trees.