A Camelsdale resident who saw red when workmen with chainsaws started reducing a special tree to chippings has won the day and saved a protected tree in the process. Teresa Marshall from Orchard Close, whose house backs on to the new and highly controversial development of homes in the village, was furious when bulldozers moved in and workmen started to hack down a huge poplar tree, one of several trees surrounded by protective chestnut fencing. It was one of a number of trees saved by tree preservation orders (TPOs) as part of conditions laid down by Chichester District Council, CDC, when it granted permission for the development of 19 homes and two flats on the 0.53 of a hectare site off Sturt Avenue. "What is the point of having TPOs when with the flick of a finger developers can cut them down?" she asked. Mrs Marshall also claimed that a site worker for the developers, Crest Nicholson, had told her that the tree was being cut down because it was in the way of a house, but could produce nothing in writing to confirm that permission had been given to go ahead. The sight of the tree felling was the final straw for Mrs Marshall, one of many residents from the locality who lost a three-year planning battle against the development on the site of just over an acre, formerly rear gardens of existing homes. Her intervention brought an instant stop to the tree felling and she immediately phoned CDC and tree warden for Fernhurst Parish Council, Robin Barnes, to complain . Mrs Marshall later claimed that the council had in fact given the developers permission to fell one of two poplar trees. In a statement, Steve Carvell, the head of development and building control services at CDC, confirmed that there were TPOs placed on not one but two poplar trees on the site. "The poplars were not shown to be removed on the approved plans, but it is understood that the on- site manager had assumed that one poplar was to be removed and due to confusion on the plans, this was agreed by council officers. "In light of this, we shall be asking the developer to plant a replacement tree," said Mr Carvell.
