Northumberland County Council has been accused of 'greenwashing' after preparations began to cut down three sycamore trees on the Blyth Energy Campus development.
It was revealed last week that the council looks set to declare an ecological emergency, four years after declaring a climate emergency in 2019. However, it is set to go ahead with the removal of three mature sycamore trees from the site after construction got under way in February of this year, and uprooting the hawthorn shrubs and bushes currently on the site is already under way.
The Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 advises that tree felling should be avoided between mid-March and August. Northumberland County Council confirmed that the trees would be coming down "later this summer" and that the removal proposals are within the planning application, which includes an arboriculture impact assessment, but there is not yet a set date for their felling.
