Meeting for bus trees residents

Edinburgh City Council deemed the chestnut tree unsafe

Residents who campaigned to save a row of trees from being pruned for a bus route are to meet council officials.

The gathering has been organised so the local authority can explain its reasons for wanting to trim the trees which overhang Lansdowne Crescent, Edinburgh.

A 150-year-old chestnut tree has already had rotting branches removed because it was deemed dangerous.

The council wants to re-route buses onto the road to allow work to continue on the new Edinburgh tram project.

But many of the branches overhang the thoroughfare and would have to be cut back to allow double deckers to pass.

They grow in a private garden owned by residents from Grosvenor Crescent and neighbouring Lansdowne Crescent.

The residents fear that cutting the trees in the summer will leave them susceptible to disease.

The meeting will be held at St George's West Church in Edinburgh at 1830 BST on Thursday evening.