Park tree felling under attack

Trees up to one hundred years old are being chopped down at a Black Country park, in a move branded "health and safety gone mad" by residents.

Regular users of Priory Park, Dudley, say they have been told the purge of trees, some of which date back to early last century, is being carried out to prevent people being hit by falling trees or branches, leading to potentially costly insurance claims.

Peter Wilkes, aged 70, walks through the park every day on the way to the educational book company he owns in Dudley town centre.

"They seem to be cutting down trees every other week," he said.

"It feels like Dudley Council are hell-bent on destroying most of the mature trees in the park.

"A guy from the council phoned me up and told me all this stuff about risk assessments they are carrying out, but they seem more concerned about all these rules than they do about conserving nature.

"I would think a lot of them are in the region of 100 years old and fantastically mature, but I cannot see for the life of me how they can be dangerous.

"They have been there for about a century, so I don't see why they are going to fall down now. It's health and safety gone mad, but there seems to be a real culture of that nowadays.

"They are talking about planting some saplings when they've got a bit of money, but you can bet your mortgage that they will be torn up by yobs within a week.

"Where else in the centre of Dudley are you going to find nature like this?"

Dudley Council spokesman Chris Howes said: "Three trees have been removed which were either diseased or rotting and posed a significant danger to the public. We will look to replant as and when the funds become available."