RESIDENTS of Eden Park in Scotforth looked on in surprise as trees at the bottom of their gardens at St Paul's primary school were pulled down on Saturday morning.

It turned out one of the trees in the children's playground had been poisonous for some time.

Another three trees were felled in the playground of the C of E school despite objections raised by the city council about one of them.

A county council spokesman said the trees had been cut down as part of a £91,000 scheme to make the playground safe.

She explained: "Our health and safety executive officer inspected the playground months ago and it turned out it had been dangerous for a long time. We applied to the government for the money to make it safe.

"One of the trees, a yew, was poisonous and was completely inappropriate for children. We are building a ramp there and we had to be careful the trees' leaves wouldn't fall on it. We are going to plant another six so there will end up being more trees than before anyway. It's not true to say that we didn't consult people. Everyone got a letter in the area on May 18. Residents had until June to respond but no-one did.

But Emily Heath, a Green Councillor for Scotforth West criticised county council. She argued: "The way this has been done is appalling. The work has been carried out on a bank holiday weekend when it is impossible to contact the local authorities for an explanation. The county council should have looked at ways of improving the safety of the playground without destroying these beautiful old trees."

Resident Mary Gavagan told Cllr Heath that she had not been notified as the the reason why the trees had been felled. According to the councillor the resident contacted the school governors but they didn't say why the trees have been felled. Another resident also told the councillor she had not been consulted.

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