A GROUP of trees in a quiet Tavistock lane have been saved from the chop, after planners this week rejected an application to fell them.
Residents in the Wyatts Lane area had campaigned to save the protected trees on the hedge by Cole Moore Meadow ? this week councillors decided they should stay standing, following a site visit last month.
A revised application to fell five instead of eleven trees was rejected by West Devon?s planning committee, after the borough?s landscape officer told them they were safe and healthy.
Ward member Cllr Dick Eberlie backed the recommendation to keep the trees.
Cllr Eberlie said: ?There is strong concern locally about the possibility of these trees being felled. Tavistock has lost a lot of trees over the last few months ? it would be very sad indeed if these were to be felled, unless there were health and safety risks.?
The committee agreed just one tree would be felled at the end of Wyatts Lane, which was causing damage to the highway.
The felling application was submitted by the developer of Cole Moore Meadow, Harold Moore and Sons. The company said the trees were too close to the houses, stream and pond in the area and could cause flooding through leaf-fall.