Thousands of Devon trees relocated ahead of road scheme works

About 2,000 trees have been relocated from the clearance site

Thousands of trees have been relocated as part of a scheme to improve the A382 near Newton Abbot.

Devon County Council (DCC) said the development was a "pioneering effort" to make the road the UK's first "carbon negative" highway.

It said about 2,000 trees have been cleared from the site ahead of construction.

The project was one of seven receiving a share of £30m through the Live Labs 2 programme.

The programme, which is funded by the Department for Transport, is organised by the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport.

It aims to change established approaches within civil engineering, infrastructure and construction sectors in order to reduce carbon emissions, the council said.

It said a field near the road has been transformed into a temporary nursery where thousands of relocated trees will remain for two years.

'Thrive and grow'

Councillor Andrea Davis, cabinet member for Climate Change, Environment and Transport, said "every effort" had been made to "relocate or re-use as many trees as possible".

Tom Morris, project manager for Milestone Infrastructure, said the relocation was "unusual" as part of a road scheme.

"We're pioneering in this respect," he said.

"Hopefully we're not the last and we can prove it's the way things should be done in the future."

Councillor Phil Bullivant, county councillor for Newton Abbot North, said the council hoped the trees would "thrive and grow" both in the temporary nursery and once they had been replanted at the end of the scheme.