Network Rail ‘wrongly' felled 300 trees

Telegraph

4 hours ago

'Cowboy' Network Rail workers unnecessarily felled more than 300 healthy trees in a valley in Derbyshire, an analysis of its own figures suggests.
Dozens of contractors are accused of spoiling the area around the village of Higham, near the Peak District, by chopping down oak and ash trees during bird nesting season.
According to a vegetation management plan outlined to residents, the government-controlled company – which is responsible for maintaining lines across Britain – was seeking to 'remove or reduce trees and vegetation that could disrupt railway operations '.
It laid out plans to 'clear all vegetation within 6.5 metres of the tracks', removing 648 trees between the settlements of South Wingfield and Clay Cross.
The company said it would 'prune or remove' any trees further away that 'posed a risk'.
However, analysis by The Telegraph of the company's data found that 433 of the trees felled – more than two-thirds of the total – were more than 6.5 metres away from the line.
Around 22 per cent of those trees would likely have needed felling under national guidelines for dealing with ash dieback disease, suggesting the remaining 336 were cut down unnecessarily.
It comes after distraught residents accused Network Rail of a 'scorched earth operation' which had left the countryside stripped bare.
People living nearby said they had woken to find stacked piles of trunks and branches – containing nests to which birds still returned – following overnight weekend works.
Cllr Heather Liggett said it had devastated a unique area of greenery which had been untouched ever since the railway line was built in 1840.
'There seems to be one law for them and another for the rest of us,' she said.
She pointed out how a local golf club was refused permission to trim back an overgrown footpath because it was bird nesting season, leaving members of the public at risk from golf balls.
Branding the Network Rail workers 'cowboys', Cllr Liggett added: 'Where is the law when it comes to these people? The community has been treated diabolically.
'To go felling trees at midnight; you are not going to know what [birds are] nesting. It's deplorable.'
Sarah McRow obtained the Network Rail data through a freedom of information (FOI) request and suspects it ploughed ahead with clearing the vegetation to ready the line for electrification.
The 56-year-old, who co-owns a nearby alpaca farm, said: 'It's completely brazen. They are absolutely doing this to bypass all the stringent ecological rules if they went down the electrification line.
'They've just gone hell for leather to take as much down as they possibly can... everyone has kicked up a fuss. You can't stick a tree back up once it's been felled. It's just outrageous what they are doing.'
A report from the Tree Council, a charity, found oak trees had been felled 'which could have been retained' in what it described as a 'slash and burn' approach.
In Network Rail's FOI response, an unnamed senior engineer said: 'Through climate change, our weather is becoming more extreme every year and this risk is growing.
'Whilst the vegetation has grown in this location for some time, the year-on-year increased risk this creates means we must action.
'We acknowledge that it's not ideal to start this work in bird nesting season. However, if we were to wait, we'd have to carry more of the risks through another autumn and winter storm season, which isn't tolerable.'
Network Rail did not explain why hundreds of trees more than 6.5 metres away had been chopped down.
A spokesman said: 'We have received the Tree Council's report about our work in this area.
'We take their recommendations seriously. We will review their report thoroughly and develop a detailed response in due course.'