Yahoo News 17 prominent bird roost trees saved by councillors in Hyndburn
A copse of 17 trees used by nine bird species including sparrowhawks and tawny owls has been saved by councillors. Hyndburn planning committee voted to refuse an application for a free-standing LED screen at a busy junction on the Accrington/Church border.
Burnley-based Premier Vue has asked for permission to put of the three metres by six metres digital advertising hoarding on land at the corner in Hyndburn Road near Jubilee Road. But the councillors turned it down as it would mean the felling of 17 protected trees after a plea from nearby resident and keen bird watcher Peter Livsey.
He told them: “We are worried about highway safety as it is a busy junction. Residents do not want to see these tress cut down.
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“They are a small but visible and important ecological area. I have seen nine species of birds using them for nesting or foraging.
“This includes a pair of sparrowhawks who use them to launch attacks on other birds in our gardens but that is nature. I have also seen tawny owls.
“We are really dead against this.”
Graeme Hughes from Premier Vue told councillors the firm was prepared to plan 51 replacement trees on a nearby site. He said the company would ensure the fly-tipped land was kept tidy in future,
Mr Hughes said: “The site is a dumping ground. It is strewn with litter and plastics. It is a mess.”
Planning office Adam Birkett told councillors that six nearby residents had objected,
He said: “The application site relates to an area at the corner of a highway junction. It separates the residential area to the northeast of the site from the busy four-armed junction where Hyndburn Road and Dunkenhalgh Way meet Henry Street and Manor Place.
“The whole of the site is located within an area covered by a Tree Preservation Order (TPO). In total there are 27 trees surveyed within the TPO protected woodland and 23 within the area of the proposed development.
“The proposed development will result in the loss of 17 TPO protected trees, which equates to the loss of 63 per cent of all TPO protected trees within the woodland TPO. The amount of trees lost will reduce the biodiversity function of the TPO woodland to near zero.”
Immanuel ward Conservative Cllr Judith Addison said the proposed screen would be ‘a blot on the landscape’.
Borough environment boss Cllr Stewart Eaves opposed the plan saying that planting replacement tree could not guarantee transferring the habitat for the birds.
