Plymouth trees: Council leader Richard Bingley to resign

Plymouth City Council leader Richard Bingley intends to resign from his position on Monday, the Conservative group has said.

Mr Bingley was due to face a vote of no confidence over the night-time felling of 110 trees on Armada Way.

Luke Pollard, Labour MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, said Mr Bingley had "no option but to resign" after his "disastrous handling" of the project.

Mr Bingley has refused to speak to the BBC.

Gary Streeter, MP for South West Devon, and Johnny Mercer, MP for Plymouth Moor View, thanked Mr Bingley for his service.

"We would like to thank Richard for all of his tireless work to promote Plymouth over the last year," the Conservative MPs said in a joint statement.

"Being in politics locally is tough, and he has remained true to his commitments to Plymouth, and to the local community."

Nick Kelly, from the Independent Alliance Group, said: "At last Cllr Bingley has realised his position has become untenable following his extremely unpopular recent decision and conduct.

"Hopefully, Plymouth can now move on."

All but 16 of the trees due to be felled as part of the £12.7m Armada Way regeneration project were taken down soon after Mr Bingley signed an executive order on 14 March allowing the scheme to proceed.

But work was stopped after a judge granted an injunction against the tree felling.

Mr Pollard said the removal of the trees was an "act of environmental vandalism".

"Richard Bingley was left with no option but to resign after his disastrous handling of the Armada Way trees scandal," he said.

The authority said last week it would seek to have the injunction lifted at a hearing this Friday.

Campaigner Ali White, from Save the Trees of Armada Way (Straw), which applied for the injunction, called on the council to abandon the case in the wake of Mr Bingley's resignation.

"We are not surprised to hear of Richard Bingley's resignation given the outrage over the decision he made to cut down our trees last week," she said.

"We hope that in light of this news that the council will see sense and save taxpayers' money by abandoning their attempts to discharge our injunction."

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said Plymouth Green Party leader, Ian Poyser, commented: "We've always been supportive of creating a thriving city centre which everyone can be proud of.

"This could have been achieved without the loss of so many trees and without causing so much damage to our city's reputation."

The BBC contacted Plymouth City Council but a request for comment was referred to Mr Bingley.

Mr Bingley has not responded to requests for comment and the Plymouth City Council Conservative group said Mr Bingley would not speak to the BBC.

The council went ahead with the project despite the results of its own consultation showing "overwhelming objection" to the plans.

It said 169 new trees would be planted as part of the overall scheme.

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