Latest news with #RoyalLeamingtonSpa
BBC News
4 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Warwick Council announces removal of Victorian oak tree from Royal Leamington Spa gardens
A historic oak tree in Warwickshire will be removed due to rotting affecting its structural Holm Oak Tree at Jephson Gardens in Royal Leamington Spa will be cut down on District Council said it made the decision with "great sadness", but the tree did not respond to pollarding works carried out to try and prolong its life.A statement said basal decay was found in the tree and it needed to be removed to ensure the safety of people using the park. The tree, shortlisted for Tree of the Year in 2023, is located between the lake and bedding area along the main path through Jephson its distinctive twisted branches, it was one of the original trees to be planted when the land and walks along the River Leam were developed into formal gardens during the Will Roberts said that while the decision is sad, the safety of the public must come first. He said: "I am grateful to the Green Spaces team and colleagues from Warwickshire County Council for the work they do to preserve and maintain our wonderful collection of mature trees, which are such an asset to our town."The area around the tree will be cordoned off while the works take place and the seating around the tree will be council said a replacement tree will be planted nearby. Follow BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Telegraph
04-06-2025
- Health
- Telegraph
‘They're buzzing everywhere': Inside the town hit by a fly infestation
A dark cloud hangs over Royal Leamington Spa, in Warwickshire. If you look closely, it's not raindrops gathering, but millions of small black flies that residents say are making their lives a misery. Abigail and her partner Paul bought their home in the suburb of Heathcote last year. They had no idea they would soon be sharing it with a swarm of uninvited visitors. At 10.30am on Wednesday, Abigail hung a strip of fly paper in her kitchen – as she does every morning. By midday it was speckled with dozens of dead or dying flies that had found their way into the house. Abigail says it is costing her at least £12 a week in fly-prevention measures, from sprays and electric fly-zappers to the screen on the back door. She worries about the effect all those chemicals are having on her six-year-old daughter. Her next-door neighbour hasn't opened her curtains for weeks since the infestation began – they all dread the coming of summer. Abigail and her family are currently in the process of renovating their home and the doors are open much of the day. 'We moved in the winter and no one warned us,' she says. 'We found out for ourselves at the end of February – that was when things changed. The flies have been everywhere constantly since then. They are there when you get something to eat. We daren't open the windows upstairs.' There is also something else in the air in Heathcote: the constant smell of rubbish emanating from a recycling plant at the centre of a sprawling industrial estate. This is the epicentre of the infestation according to local residents, who have been plagued by flies since it opened three years ago. The Amcor plant, which processes 50,000 tonnes of kerbside-collected plastic waste each week, says it has passed all environmental and health checks, but complaints led by Matt Western, the MP for Warwick and Leamington Spa, to warn in the House of Commons of a 'public health risk'. There's something else in the air in Heathcote: the persistent smell of rubbish wafting from a recycling plant at the centre of a sprawling industrial estate. According to local residents, this is the epicentre of an infestation that has plagued the area with flies every spring since the facility opened three years ago. The Amcor plant, which processes 50,000 tonnes of kerbside-collected plastic waste each week, says it has passed all environmental and health checks. But complaints have continued, prompting Matt Western, MP for Warwick and Leamington Spa, to raise concerns in the House of Commons about a potential 'public health risk.' Amcor, formerly known as Berry Circular Polymers, says there is no proven link between the activities at the site and the swarms of flies, which have appeared every spring for the past three years. The streets around Amcor's towering, seemingly spotless stainless-steel plant are named after characters created by William Shakespeare, who lived just a few miles away in Stratford-upon-Avon. Fittingly, it is in Othello that the Bard mentions the 'summer flies in the shambles' – the grim market stalls where butchers once disembowelled animals and processed offal. It's surely coincidence that Othello Avenue lies just a street away, not far from Orsino Close, Shylock Grove and Calpurnia Avenue. In the Royal Horse pub, a group of five elderly women are enjoying their first visit in three years. They had stayed away after their last meal together was ruined by flies. Pat Weake, 85, only booked the table this time after checking whether the problem had been resolved. 'I was told there was, but it hasn't been as bad [recently] so we decided to take a chance,' she says. Thus far their meal hadn't been disturbed by anything more annoying than a Telegraph journalist, but it was still early in the day and they were ready to make a run for it if necessary. Tony Woodcock, 28, and his partner Abbie Sweet are among the area's newer residents, drawn like many young couples to Heathcote's affordable homes. But no one, Tony says, warned them they might be sharing their new life with a swarm of flying insects. Both he and Abbie suffer from respiratory issues, and shortly after moving in, she ended up in A&E with breathing difficulties. They don't know whether the Amcor plant is to blame, but they've begun to wonder if they should have stayed in Lillington, a nearby village where, Tony says, the air was 'pure and sweet'. 'We have a three-year-old daughter and it was a very small flat,' he adds. Tony works wrapping kitchens in vinyl to give them a fresh look at modest cost. Now, he's turning his attention to something more urgent: designing a fly screen using the same skills. Catherine McIntyre, 41, who lives nearby, is dreading the arrival of peak summer. 'It was really bad last year,' the mother of three explains. 'They were getting into the bedroom and everywhere.' At Stagecoach's Leamington Spa bus depot, where vehicles are cleaned before setting off across the country, one driver reported having to deal with more than a dozen flies before he could start his route. Meanwhile, Matt Western painted a grim picture when he raised the issue in Parliament. 'Imagine being in your own home and unable to eat with your family, unable to leave food for even a minute without your kitchen being swarmed with flies, and unable to sleep in your own bed without flies landing on your face,' he said. 'Imagine flies everywhere, in every room of your house, in business premises, in pubs, in restaurants and in takeaways, and vile odours permeating your life, whether at home, walking the streets or driving your car. 'That is the reality for hundreds of families in one part of my constituency. I estimate that as many as 10,000 – if not more – of my constituents are impacted by this. 'This is not just a minor inconvenience; this is ruining people's lives. 'People are getting ill, and some residents are actually selling up. Then there is the all-pervasive foul-smelling odour. Constituents describe the smell as being like 'raw sewage'. They say it is 'sulphuric' and 'toxic'. Many have told me that the smell is utterly unbearable.' An Environment Agency spokesperson confirmed that the Amcor site had been inspected four times since April 1, and apart from a minor breach of 'management techniques', no issues had been found. No one was available for comment yesterday, but a spokesperson for Berry Circular Polymers (now Amcor) had previously stated: 'We take these concerns extremely seriously and although both ourselves and our regulators cannot find a substantial causal link, we are committed to ensuring we do not negatively impact Warwickshire residents.' Few agree. The only ones who don't seem to mind are the flies.
