North West Relief Road: Campaigners bid to save veteran trees

A campaign has been started to save nine trees set to be felled as part of a bypass being built in Shrewsbury.

Councillors gave planning permission for the North West Relief Road, linking the A5 to north Shrewsbury, in October.

But wildlife campaigners said the veteran trees, including the so-called Darwin Oak, will be lost along with over a thousand other trees.

Shropshire Council has said there would be benefits from the bypass such as new cycle routes and reduced traffic jams.

The trees include seven oaks, an ash and a field maple. The 'Darwin Oak' has been named after naturalist Charles Darwin who lived in the town as a child.

Campaigners and some locals say he may have encountered the tree as he grew up.

Save The Shrewsbury 9 campaign group said they were now asking the public to help them choose names for eight of the trees before a "tree christening" in January.

"Each of these trees has stood for hundreds of years and is a living ecosystem in its own right," said ecologist Tina Teearu, from the group.

"These trees connect us to our past. They have witnessed some of the greatest moments in our collective history."

One oak on Shelton Way is over 340 years old, the group said.

Two others near Ellesmere Roundabout are 361 and 281 years old, campaigners said, and are sometimes referred to as The Restoration Oaks, because they date back to when Charles II was returned to the throne after Cromwell.

The planning report considered by councillors in October said that the loss of the trees was "of concern" as they were "irreplaceable", but added that a "compensation strategy and substantial mitigation" would include replacing veteran trees with six times as many young ones.

Ms Teearu said they feared the trees could be felled before scheduled work on the road starts in 2025, and wanted reassurance from the council that that would not be the case.

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