Campaigner left shocked as council kills newly planted trees with weedkiller in Derbyshire park

Wingerworth councillor and Green Party Campaign Manager Frank Adlington-Stringer had led a programme to plant 500 trees across Wingerworth.

Frank said: “Parish councils declared a climate emergency – and we're really conscious to do something on a local level about the state of the climate. This is something that we thought we could do, which would not only help the bigger picture, but also improve the local environment and make our parks nicer for local people.”

As a part of the project, a variety of species supplied by the Woodland Trust were planted by volunteers at the beginning of the year in the park just off Adlington Avenue, on Chartwell Avenue and in Deer Park.

The mix included rowan, birch, cherry trees as well as wetland species such as Goat Willow which Fran hopes will help to prevent some of the flooding around the local parks and reduce the bogginess of the football pitches.

But the joy from the project didn’t last long as problems started to emerge.

North East Derbyshire District Council, which owns a strip of the park parallel to Allendale Road shops, demanded the newly planted trees were relocated while it ‘reviewed its plans for that section of land’.

Frank was shocked and disappointed when he heard about the decision.

He said: “I think the district council should have supported our tree planting. I was shocked that they didn't and it just shows their lack of awareness of the climate crisis and the lack of action that they're taking to tackle it.

“It is also an unwelcome reminder of the plan to build on this land in 2019 and it shows the council’s obvious desire to build on our remaining green spaces as well.”

Before the Parish council managed to relocate the saplings, some of the trees had been sprayed with a harmful weed killer without approval from the Parish Council and a number of trees subsequently died.

Frank said: “They never told us they were planning to do this. They didn't even tell us afterwards. The piece of land on the right of Longedge Lane by the local shops has been turned into what looks like scorched earth.”

Frank said taking this action in the middle of spring is especially damaging for the local environment, further affecting the Wingerworth’s ecosystem.

He added: “We were really, really excited about this project and put a lot of time and effort into it. Now it feels like it's been ruined by the behaviour of the higher authorities.”

Both Derbyshire District Council and North East Derbyshire District Council were contacted regarding the issue but refused to comment.