Residents' tree anger

Homeowners in Exmoor Drive, Durrington, say they were not consulted before developers felled up to eight 20-feet high trees at the end of their gardens.

They say the trees provided their bungalows with a screen from a new estate called White House Place development, containing 13 three-storey houses and nine apartments.

Neighbours Chris Austin and Keith Dagwell claimed planners said the housing developer would either keep the trees or discuss alternatives with them when it approved plans by Hillreed Homes in February, 2003.

"We are so angry, it's like there's a huge grandstand at the end of my garden," said Mr Dagwell. "They put something on a plan but when you have six windows overlooking you it is quite different."

James Appleton, the council's assistant director planning services, said Hillreed Homes had cleared the dead trees without permission.

"The developer originally agreed to retain the trees as a screen to adjoining residents.

"But the estate is close to completion and a prospective purchaser is apparently not happy, for safety reasons, to buy one of these properties with dead trees in the garden.

"It is very disappointing that the developer has decided to remove these trees before reaching an agreement with the council and local residents."

According to Mr Dagwell, 66, no one contacted him before last week, when he "looked on in horror" as workmen used chainsaws to fell the trees.

"Suddenly, and without any warning at all, they just started hacking at the trees," he told the Herald.

"What really rankles us is knowing we were told we had an agreement with the council that nothing would happen unless we were consulted with."

Mr Dagwell, who moved in two years ago with partner, Elizabeth Watkins, 62, said: "This was our dream bungalow that we chose to retire in and now look at what we have got."

Hillreed Homes director Dean Markall said: "It is important to understand that the trees were dead. If they had stayed, from a safety point of view, who would be prepared to take responsibility when they fell?

"We had to remove the danger because they would have either fallen one side into gardens or onto someone in our development. We are going to rescreen the boundary with fencing and shrubs."