Decision due next week on controversial tree felling in Newark
A public ‘Stop the Chop’ campaign has been running against the plan
Last updated 5th Oct 2021
A senior Newark and Sherwood councillor says ‘lessons will be learnt’ over the handling of a plan to cut down trees in favour of a car park extension which has faced three years of controversy and delay.
Long-standing proposals to cut down three sycamore trees to make way for 36 new spaces at the council-run London Road Car Park, Newark, were expected to be decided last week.
But councillors instead agreed to defer the decision to a later full council meeting.
A public ‘Stop the Chop’ campaign has been running against the plan, which has organised protests, and a petition by residents reached 1,700 signatures. A total of 81 formal planning objections have also been made.
Newark and Sherwood District Council first proposed the project in November 2018, and in 2019 entered a legally binding agreement with Datch Properties Limited (DPL), which owns the land the extension would be built on – green space between the former Municipal Buildings and library.
The agreement commits the council to building the car park and to pay DPL £30,000 per year in rent for 25 years, after an initial two-year, rent-free period.
But the authority has not yet started work and the initial planning permission for the site will expire in November this year if nothing is done.
The council’s policy and finance committee reviewed the plan in public on Thursday, September 23.
During the meeting, Councillor Peter Harris (Lib Dem) called for an investigation into the council’s original decision to grant planning permission.
A decision on what to do next was deferred to the full council meeting on October 12.
Donna Bowyer, of campaign group Extinction Rebellion, which opposes the plans, said:
“The meeting last week was hopeful but it won’t be a victory until this is over.
“There is a lot of opposition to it because nobody wants to lose these ancient trees.
“We need every tree we can get at the moment and there is an eco-system that relies on those trees.
“It doesn’t add up with the council declaring a climate emergency.”
The council’s stated options include buying back the land, creating the extended car park, creating the car park but saving one tree in the process or ‘doing nothing’.
Following the latest meeting Councillor Keith Girling (Con), Vice-Chairman of the Policy and Finance Committee, and deputy leader of the council, said:
“Members of the committee had spent a lot of time reading through reports, studying the four options and listening to representations from residents in the lead up to this week’s Policy and Finance Committee meeting.
“Through the landowner’s solicitors, less than 24 hours prior to the Committee meeting, one of the four options was revised and a new option also presented. This additional offer, arriving at this late stage, meant that the decision should be referred to Full Council for consideration to allow Councillors the time to understand it. It was very disappointing that the landowner put this offer on the table at such a late stage. A number of residents had turned out to hear the decision and I’m particularly disappointed that unfortunately, due to this late information, we couldn’t give them that debate and decision.
“When the lease arrangement was set up, priorities may have been different. We will learn lessons from this but we have to make a decision on how to move forward based on the position we are now in. We will debate on possible options fully and in public.
“This is a situation that no-one wants to be in. Whatever decision we make, it will be a difficult one.”
Councillor Peter Harris (Lib Dem) said during the meeting last week:
“I do think that a full investigation should take place and the people who should have been accountable, are held accountable even though some of them have lost their seats in the meantime.
“It is the people of Newark who will be losing their green space. It is their town, but I expect this will not mean very much to you tonight. I hope we reconsider that at full council.”
He added that a parking survey completed on one of the busiest days of the year found that Newark’s car parks were only 62 per cent full.
Campaigner Jenni Harris of Protect Newark’s Green Spaces, said:
“It has dawned on the council that this is not a good look to put in a car park in place of mature trees.
“The people of Newark have shown so much support for us. They don’t want these magnificent trees cutting down.
“Our original petition got 1770 signatures, people were queuing to sign up.
“The three trees planned for cutting store almost 10 tonnes of carbon, they are between 80 and 120 years old.
“We are planning another protest outside the meeting in October.”
Datch Properties Limited declined to comment.