Dozen '˜diseased' trees get the chop

Residents living near Crossland Road Park, in Hawes Side, said the first they learned about council plans to chop down 12 trees in the park was when they awoke on Monday morning to the sound of sawing.

Blackpool Council said the trees were diseased and needed to be removed.

Dolly Hyndman, a retired biscuit factory worker who lives on Crosslands Road, said: “There has been two chopped down at the back of my house, but they were diseased. It’s the fact that they didn’t bother to inform us.

“We woke up to the sound of them sawing the trees down. We hadn’t been told about it and we were quite upset.

“We feel it has been done underhandedly. We received not a dicky bird about it. Couldn’t they have put a flyer through the doors just in the street and Morley Road?

“It’s just awful that it’s come to the point where we can’t trust the council.”

Friends of Crossland Road Park chairman Natalie Etheridge said she was also unaware of the plans to remove the trees before being contacted by confused residents at the weekend.

Coun Maria Kirkland, cabinet member responsible for Parks, said: “We take great pride in Blackpool’s parks and our parks service work hard to maintain them. A borough wide survey identified around 12 trees in Crossland Road Park that needed to be felled due to decay and others that just needed pruning.

“Due to challenges on resources it is not always possible to inform park users or residents of every piece of work that is being undertaken by our park’s team.

“Given the condition of trees, it was important that the work was completed now as it can be difficult to access the park with equipment during the winter period.”