Angry Calverton villagers accuse builder Bellway of killing trees and causing £20k damage

Villagers have accused a housebuilder of slicing through the roots of dozens of decades-old trees in a Nottinghamshire park - leaving locals with a £20,000 bill. Calverton Parish Council has alleged builder Bellway killed around 30 trees, some of which are more than 60 years old, in the process of developing its Willow Rise housing estate in the village.

Bellway said it had only dug into the ground near the trees to remove topsoil and denied any of them next to Willow Rise required removal as a result. But parish councillor Andrew Meads has claimed the property firm dug too deep and close to the trees, forcing the council to remove the dying trunks at the William Lee Memorial Park off Park Road.

"Their own tree expert said what they did was fine, but we've had to cut the trees down as they're dying from the top down," Mr Meads said. "There's nothing they can say that is convincing about the roots, we know they cut through all of them.

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"We have the photos to prove it. It is blatantly obvious from what we've seen that they dug right down next to our fence."

Mr Meads was upset by the financial strain the alleged damage to the trees had caused, but also lamented the negative impact on the park. "These trees have been here 60, maybe 70 years," he said.

"With all the housebuilding going on around us the park would have been an oasis, but now the back row of poplars has gone. It is a double whammy because we have lost our trees and it is costing us a lot of money, but it would have cost even more to get rid of the stumps."

Bellway argued its arboriculturist had recently returned to Willow Rise to examine the trees and concluded many trees did not need to be removed, and those that do are not on the border between the housing estate and the parish council's land. "Before construction work began at Willow Rise, a method statement for protecting trees was approved by Gedling Borough Council," a spokesperson for Bellway said.

"No homes have been built in the areas of the development which are close to the root protection zone, so no digging into this area was required beyond topsoil removal." The housebuilder said it would soon share its arboriculturist's report with the parish council.

A Gedling Borough Council spokesperson said: “Calverton Parish Council contacted our planning team about an issue with trees at the Bellway site. Our tree officer visited the site and informed the Parish Council that there were no tree preservation orders in the area.

"Our investigation has found that there has been no breach of any planning regulations and no further action is required from Gedling Borough Council.”