Death-knell sounds for Grimsby garden oak tree - because birds like roosting in its branches

                                                                         

Unloved - the Fallowfield Road oak tree

THE planning go-ahead has been given for an oak tree in a Grimsby garden to be felled.

This is because the occupant of the house, in Fallowfield Road, says the overhang of the branches is causing "excessive" shading to the neighbouring properties.

She also dislikes the presence of roosting woodpigeons whose droppings cause a "health hazard", so she claims, to the occupants of her and her neighbours, plus children and pets.

Another concern is that the droppings might be "causing damage" to parked cars.

North East Lincolnshire Council's trees officer, Paul Chaplin, has approved the felling request on condition that a replacement oak is planted on a plot of land on nearby Allestree Drive.

The Grimsby News says: The oak is healthy and has been growing on this part of Fallowfield Road since long before the applicant's house was built. As well as the pigeons, it will be home to many songbird species. It is a shame, therefore, that, far from being cherished, it is to be disposed of - another lamentable sign of modern society's readiness to tolerate nature, but only so long as it does not "get in the way". Since the same argument can be levelled against almost every urban tree, none in the borough can now be deemed safe. No wonder North East Lincolnshire has been ajudged one of the most tree-depleted parts of Britain.