FLOOD Meadows witnessed the unexpected felling on Tuesday of yet more trees along the river bank.

According to Alton tree warden Jim Dickinson, the felling of a mature lime and two smaller trees had been brought about by the scouring action of heavy flows in the River Wey which had removed a lot of the bank underpinning the roots.

If the trees had been allowed to fall of their own accord, as Mr Dickinson assures they would have done in time, the river flow would have been obstructed and people walking near the watercress beds on the bank opposite would have been put in danger of injury.

East Hampshire arboricultural officer Stewart Garside had inspected the trees and approved their felling to remove the hazard.

The incident followed the unexpected felling in March this year of six mature trees on private land flanking the river near the Tanhouse Lane end of the meadow.

In this instance, while this too had been carried out to avert potential disaster, the action had caused shock among local residents, who had not been consulted or made aware of the reasons behind the need to fell.

Mr Dickinson told The Herald that in this latest incident the trees had been standing on the rear boundary of Number 41 Lenten Street. The owner of the property had become concerned that they were leaning too far over the river and that the angle of lean was rapidly increasing.

The lean had been made more obvious by the metal fence posts, depicting the boundary line, which had been forced out of alignment as the root masses in which they were embedded moved in the ground.

In view of the condition of these trees, the arboricultural officer had made them exempt from the conservation area process which, pointed out Mr Dickinson, could have delayed any action by many weeks, perhaps with disastrous consequences.