Ancient trees hacked down by developer

A row of 150-year-old trees has been chopped down by a developer building homes in the Black Country.

The felling of all but three of the holly trees near Corbett Hospital in Amblecote, near Stourbridge, has sparked outrage.

David Wilson Homes is building five-bedroom houses at the Impney Grange project near the hospital.

Ward councillor Pat Martin, a former mayor of the borough, said council officers wanted the 40ft high trees to be retained.

She today called on the firm to plant fully grown trees replacing the majority of those chopped down.

The trees stretched across an area of 200ft and separated a meadow where horses graze at the back of Corbett Hospital and the new development Impney Grange.

Councillor Martin said she understood the council had been in the process of obtaining tree preservation orders when the trees were felled last Friday.

"Environmentally we don't cut trees down unless it is absolutely vital and the trees were protection for the horses which have grazed in the field for 30 years," she said.

"Once trees are gone they are gone."

Resident Helen Cook, 56, who lives nearby in Vicarage Road and works in horticulture, said: "They did need some maintenance but they could have been incorporated into a hedge.

"My main concern was for the animals who graze in the meadow and the trees were historically of value."