Anger as 300-year-old oak trees set to be felled

Three oak trees - all more than 300 years old - are set to be felled in the coming weeks due to the damage they are thought to be causing to a village hall.

Tolleshunt Knights Parish Council, in Essex, has said its insurers have advised the trees must be dealt with quickly or the authority “could be liable” for any further subsidence to the adjacent village hall.

There have been calls to find an alternative to cutting down the oaks, which stand on the village's playing field.

Parish council chair Douglas Tungatt said he would “rather blow the hall up and keep the trees”.

“Nobody wants it, we absolutely hate it, but we’re between a rock and hard place,” Mr Tungatt told the BBC.

“It’ll completely change the outlook of the village, but we’ve got no other choice. We’ve tried every route there is."

Mr Tungatt, 78, said he and his fellow councillors - as trustees of the authority - could be personally liable for costs of the subsidence repairs if the trees are not removed and further damage occurred.

Tolleshunt Knight Village Hall Management Committee, which is run separately from the parish council, said it wanted to fight the decision to fell the trees and would look into raising enough money for an alternative solution.

Mr Tungatt said the problems with subsidence had already caused some village hall users, such as the bowls club, to find an alternative venue for their activities.

Ian Rice, 74, from Tiptree, who walks his dogs in the village hall field every day, said he would be “absolutely gutted” to see the trees cut down.

“I’m not a tree hugger, but I think it’s terrible because these trees are a couple of hundred years old and they’re stunning,” he said.

“My argument is there’s got to be another way of doing it.”

Mr Tungatt said root barrier work would cost around £63,000 - the equivalent of each household in the village paying £100 - but would only be effective for six years.

In a notice posted online and on an information board outside the village hall, the parish council said it was not in a position to spend such a large sum on root barriers.

The work to cut down the trees is set to be carried out over the school summer holidays.

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