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.
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Adam Greenwold, who owns nursery Perennial Favourites in Blyth, which backs onto the development, is furious at the impending removal of the trees and believes they are "irreplaceable". He added that the young plantings take years to attain the same landscape and ecological value.
Adam told ChronicleLive: "On the one hand, Northumberland County Council are declaring a climate and ecological crisis and on the other, they're proposing to take down a whole load of trees. The trees enhance the area completely, they're mature trees which are impossible to replace and they will have quite a high rating if you were to put an ecological evaluation on it.
"Quite how much damage they've done to the roots as we speak, I'm not sure, but it's certainly not a good practice if they're trying to protect vegetation - it's complete hypocrisy."
The Energy Central Learning Hub is a partnership between Port of Blyth, Northumberland County Council and the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult. A spokesperson for Northumberland County Council said that the campus will make a "significant" contribution to local energy based growth on a local, national and international level.
The spokesperson confirmed that efforts were made to try and accommodate the three mature sycamore trees within the scheme, but was not possible due to site levels and constraints. The trees are to be removed in accordance with appropriate guidelines and an ecologist will check for nesting birds five days prior to their removal.
There will also be 15 new native trees planted, including four six-metre tall semi-mature trees. A coastal planting scheme will feature more than 500 shrubs planted into landscaped areas and 180 herbaceous plants in large pots, alongside 90 grasses in pots to replace the hawthorn shrubs and bushes. Lastly, four bad boxes and two bird nesting boxes will be implemented within the building design.
The spokesperson said: "The scheme will result in a significant net increase in biodiversity on the site and contribute to addressing climate change in other ways, for instance by reducing the need to travel for local people with access to training and skills in the town rather than needing to travel elsewhere. It supports our aim to increase biodiversity in Northumberland with more green space and habitats which can support nature, wildlife and climate change goals."
