RESIDENTS in one of Tavistock's most desirable property locations have been banned from felling trees while a survey is carried out by the borough council in a bid to preserve the area's landscape character.

Down Road, which is known for its large houses on substantial plots, has been become a hotspot for development with people building homes in their gardens, but this has raised concern about the loss of trees.

West Devon Borough Council's landscape officer Georgina Brown told members of the planning committee that more than 130 properties in the Down Road area had been served with a temporary tree preservation order (TPO) to protect all the trees while they were surveyed to assess their health, form, longevity and contribution to the setting of Down Road.

The area order is expected to be lifted in early 2009 once new individual TPOs are implemented.

Resident of Down Road Roger Mathew said he felt the order was dubious: 'This order would enable a consultant, at public expense, to enter a private garden and find trees for protection that officers claim they cannot identify from public places.

'The trees that they are seeking to protect are not conspicuous enough to be of public interest. The whole notion is outrageous.'

Anyone wishing to undertake tree work while the order is in place will have to apply to the planning authority for permission.

Mr Mathew said there were something between 4,000 and 5,000 trees which would be covered by this order and in his garden alone he had 50.

He said his normal frequency of husbandry would require five tree works applications to the planning authority in a month.

It was stressed that tree survey was an interim measure only and it would most certainly not identity 50 trees worthy of protection in Mr Mathew's garden. In reality only a very small number were likely to be picked out for final protection.

Georgina Brown said there were examples where nice trees had been removed to subdivide sites in the Down Road area for development.

'This is becoming an increasing problem and it has been recognised both by this authority and members of the public,' she said.

'We needed a way of trying to assess which trees were worthy of protection and which were not.'

She said mature trees needed to be protected as did some smaller trees which were the trees of the future, because unfortunately the ones which had been lost were not being replaced.

She said in most cases minor tree work could be dealt with by a site visit and there was no need for a full application.