Walker left heart-broken after trees felled in Chesterfield countryside to make way for housing development

Sharon Mosley, 53, of Chesterfield, walks around Tapton Golf Course and over the fields of Calow with her husband and three dogs, every day.

She said the area is full of wild flowers and trees providing homes for wildlife but last week she noticed a trench being built, followed by the removal of a hedgerow then 15 mature trees.

She added: “That's the kind of habitat where the birds and insects live. We often see pheasants and beautiful barn owls there. It’s soul destroying that this habitat is being felled, knocked down and turned away.”

She added: “ I can't believe that at a time when we are feeling the effects of climate change, the trees are just chopped down. It takes years for a tree to reach a level of carbon storage known as carbon sequestration.

“Planting a new tree would need twenty years to reach a level of maturity in which it would be at a level of carbon storage and to positively affect the ecosystem. Twenty years we don't have.

“That's a busy road that's going up there. Those trees would have been capturing carbon from all the emissions and helped the environment around here. Now they've been destroyed. It is heartbreaking.”

Trees have been removed to make way for Churchfields, a housing development by Woodall Homes of 46 houses, ranging from three-bedroom bungalows to three and four-bedroom homes.

Mrs Mosley said: “This is happening too frequently. They are taking down areas of natural beauty and lots of trees just to make way for new houses. And people don’t even have a chance to find out.

“I understand that we've got a housing shortage. But there's got to be some sort of compromise when building these new estates. There's got to be balance with the environment around.”

North East Derbyshire District Council Spokesperson said: ‘The trees have been removed by Woodall Homes as part of their approved scheme of development at Church Meadows/Church Side at Calow, with an ecologist in attendance to ensure no nesting birds are impacted.”