A LUDLOW councillor has accused a group that looks after a beauty spot in the town of ‘environmental vandalism’.

Tim Gill, who sits on Ludlow Town Council, says he is amazed at the decision by the Friends of Whitcliffe Common to take the axe to two oak trees.

But the Friends of Whitcliffe Common have defended the decision saying that it is in line with long-established plans for the beauty spot.

Ludlow Town Council is also dismayed at the felling that is expected to take place in the autumn unless there is a change of heart.

Shropshire Council has the power to protect what it describes as ‘magnificent trees’ but has decided not to intervene.

“The application to cut down two oak trees that has now been approved by Shropshire Council, is environmental vandalism,” said Ludlow Town Councillor Tim Gill.

He believes that the claim that the trees spoil the view of the town does not stand up and that people only have to walk a few yards either way to look down on Ludlow and the Shropshire hills in the distance.

“For anyone who stands at the top of Whitcliffe the idea that these trees obliterate an iconic view is absurd,” Tim Gill added.

“Oak trees, that support a greater number of insects species than any other tree are potentially under threat from acute oak decline so the cutting down of two young healthy oaks is wrong-headed in the extreme.

“The town council, following the advice of their tree expert, made their opposition to the removal of the oaks clear.”

He says that questions need to be asked about whether Ludlow Town Council should approve a bid for a grant from the Friends of Whitcliffe Common.

Tim Gill says that if it gives a grant then the town council could be accused of helping to fund something that it believes is wrong.

He is calling upon the Friends of Whitcliffe Common to think again.

“The Friends of Whitcliffe Common have done excellent work over the years but I hope they will re consider their perverse decision to cut down the oaks,” Tim Gill said.

“If they do not, I, for one, will not be renewing my subscription to the Friends and suspect, from what I have heard, that many others won't as well.”

But Daphne Jones, who is chairman of the Friends, says that the axe must fall and it is right for the trees to come down.

“The application for the removal of the two oak trees was to keep and improve the present iconic view from Whitcliffe of Ludlow, regularly used to advertise the town,” said Daphne Jones.

“When Friends of Whitcliffe Common agreed with Plymouth Estates, in 1998, a 10-year plan to care for Whitcliffe, the view was reclaimed, using shire horses, by the removal of more than 700 tons of timber. This was supported by Shropshire County Council, the then South Shropshire District Council, Ludlow Town Council, the Forestry Commission and the Woodland Trust.”

She said that the removal of the trees is in-line with a plan to open up historic views of the town and that the majority of comments received by Shropshire Council support the cutting down of the trees.