David Acton is retired and has lived with his wife in Glencoe Road in Branksome for the past 14 years. He said he was 'absolutely gutted' to discover a number of trees in his neighbour's garden had been vandalised. It's reported the neighbouring property, Alma Cottage, was inherited by relatives of a lady who died two years ago.
David said the home has been used as a holiday home for the past couple of years, but it is currently in the process of being sold to a developer. He said: "They let the garden go to wrack and ruin, then all of a sudden, a bloke came in and started hacking down all the trees. "He chopped down a big fir tree, he stripped back and removed all the branches off a massive holly tree.
" "But worst of all is what they did to the maritime pine, which has been there for over 80 years and is a well-developed tree on the site," said David. He said the maritime pine has been 'ring barked', which David described as 'taking cheese like wedges out of a tree trunk' with the aim of eventually killing it. David said: "They have already done the damage; it would be impossible to slap a tree protection order onto a dying tree.
"It means that a developer can come in and flatten the whole place and not have to worry about trees." When David and his wife applied for planning permission to extend their property, it cost them £6000 in fees because of the trees in their garden. David added, "It cost us a fortune, and now they've done this.
We are not objecting to the developme.
