Cardiff climate change protesters fail to stop tree felling

A protester chained himself to one of the two trees which were due to be cut down

Two 150-year-old trees have been felled despite a stand-off between developers and climate change protesters.

More than 100 protesters gathered at Suffolk House in Canton, Cardiff, on Sunday to stop the lime and copper beech trees being chopped down.

An Extinction Rebellion campaigner chained himself to one of the trees, but he was later lifted down.

Property company Quin and Co said the trees needed to be cut down for safety reasons.

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The trees were outside Suffolk House in Canton, Cardiff

The Cardiff-based firm is planning to restore the derelict Suffolk House and build seven three-bedroom townhouses and 10 apartments.

Workers cut down both the trees despite the protester spending the majority of the day chained to one of them.

Tree surgeons began to cut branches off the tree before the protester was taken back to ground level in a cherry picker lift.

Nerys Lloyd-Pierce, chair of Cardiff Civic Society, said too many trees in the city were being felled.

She said: "Trees are our frontline defence against the effects of climate change, acting as a 'carbon sink' and absorbing excess C02."

Quin and Co said the trees were causing "imminent danger to life"

The Cardiff branch of the Extinction Rebellion campaign group said the trees were "part of Canton's history", in a statement on Twitter.

Quin and Co said: "The decision to fell these trees is solely down to the retaining wall supporting the trees failing, causing imminent danger to life.

"We have commissioned arboricultural reports by Treecare Consulting and engineer's reports, to examine all options prior to felling the trees, which is being undertaken to allow us to re-build the retaining wall."