Planners defend irreplaceable trees

TOWN Hall planners are urging councillors to take further action to protect two “irreplaceable” oak trees which stand in the way of a proposed care home for the disabled.
The trees are currently protected by a temporary preservation order which expires in mid-November when they may again come under threat.
They stand in the grounds of a building owned by NHS Warrington at Delenty Drive, Birchwood.
Two applications have been put forward for permission to demolish the existing building and replace it with a three-storey care facility for people with acquired brain injury, early onset dementia, strokes, etc.
In August, the borough’s development control committee threw out the scheme because it would involve the loss of the two trees.
NHS Warrington and the applicants, St George’s Health Care, claimed the trees made no contribution to local amenity and could not be seen from public places.
But council planners the trees are irreplaceable.
“No amount of replacement planting would offset their loss as it would take in excess of 70 years to establish their crown spread and dominance within the landscape,” they say.
There would also be an ecological loss – and local residents and Birchwood Town Council want to see the trees retained.
On Wednesday, the development control committee will be asked to confirm the protection orders on the two oaks.