Horton Heath woods: Legal moves after unauthorised clearance

Residents said more than 100 trees were felled in the woodland site

Further unauthorised clearance works of a protected woodland area has been legally banned for the next month.

Residents have complained about works at Scoreys Copse in Horton Heath, Hampshire, which began on Saturday.

Eastleigh Borough Council said a temporary stop notice had been put in place, which would allow time for further legal measures to be considered.

Local MP Paul Holmes described the clearance as "environmental vandalism".

Work began to clear the one-acre woodland site on Saturday, with burning also reported on Monday.

The council said a number of trees protected by a tree preservation orders were felled during the work.

The land has an oil pipeline running underneath it.

Burning was seen on the site early on Monday

In a letter to councillors, senior enforcement officer Phil Wiseman said the landowner had been cautioned and requested to cease the activities on site on Saturday.

He said the council was banning any development work for 28 days under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, and would also pursue a tree replacement notice to order new trees be planted on the site.

Further burning on the site has also been prohibited.

Mr Holmes has written to the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, George Eustice, to call for stronger enforcement powers for local authorities.

He said there had been "considerable disquiet, anger and disbelief" in the area over the clearance.

"We need to show that those who break the law in this way will be stopped and punished for their acts of environmental vandalism".