Green campaigners have warned Pendle Council they will fight plans to chop down trees in Barrowford Park - unless the move is absolutely necessary.Council bosses are proposing to cut down dozens of trees in Barrowford Park after a safety inspector ruled they were dangerous.
But Pendle Council - which has refused to say exactly how many trees are affected - has been warned that it will face stiff opposition if the chainsaws roll on any trees where felling is not entirely necessary.
The borough's branch of Friends of the Earth, which protested last year when several trees were cut down at Alkincoates Woodland Nature Reserve in Colne, said felling should only be carried out as a last resort, if there was a risk of disease spreading throughout the woodland.
Work is already being carried out on trees that the council has identified as being in danger of falling, and a programme of replanting is set to take place over the next few years.
But Brian Jackson, of Pendle Friends of the Earth, said council policies all over the country were leaving the UK at risk of wiping out its ancient woodlands.
He said: "Trees take a very long time to grow so it will be 30 or 40 years before this replanting scheme is any use whatsoever.
"The environment usually looks after itself if you let it get on with things - you can nurture and enable nature but you can't order it around.
"These people seem to think that if a tree's older than 50 it's had it and that's simply not true.
"In a lot of council tree felling it's a combination of lack of money for proper woodland management and someone sitting behind a desk trying to justify their job by doing too much."
Councillor Ann Kerrigan, executive member for parks and recreation, said: "We understand what trees mean to people and we fully sympathise with residents who are upset by this work but some of the trees could pose a potential threat to safety.
"We understand that this may cause some disruption and we apologise for any inconvenience while the necessary work is in progress."
Source: http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk
