Anger after village oaks felled

Residents in a Berkshire village say they are outraged after three ancient oak trees were felled by developers.

Farmglade Ltd is planning to build new homes on their site at West End Road in Mortimer, south of Reading.

Although it has yet to be granted planning permission, the firm has removed three of the trees on site.

It said the removal was necessary to ensure the new homes have big enough gardens. Tree preservation orders have been put on the remaining three trees.

Terri Bowshaw, who lives in the village, said she and her fellow residents were furious when they saw the trees had been cut down.

She said: "There's no need to cut them down, they're not gaining anything because [the trees] are on the border there.

Amended plans

"It's screening for all the neighbours around and they're beautiful trees that are hundreds of years old."

The site, in the grounds of the 100-year old Read House was bought by Farmglade Ltd in 2007 and has been earmarked for development.

However, the firm was refused permission to build eight new homes on the site last month.

In a statement, it said it had "worked very hard to come up with a solution" that would see all the trees on the site preserved.

But, it added: "One of the reasons given for the refusal of the application was that garden sizes were substandard because of the encroachment of adjacent trees on them."

The company decided to fell two of the trees so that it could appeal against the decision or amend the plans before submitting a new planning application.

West Berkshire Council said it put a conservation order on the remaining trees after being informed of the felling.