11th hour bid to save ancient oak

RESIDENTS made a last-ditch attempt to save a 300-year-old oak tree from being chopped down as part of work to extend a Walsall cemetery.

Contractors moved on to Willenhall Lawn Cemetery, in Bentley Lane, earlier this month to finally begin work to increase the number of plots on the site by 1,000 – more than three years after planning permission had been granted.

Walsall Council said that, without the extension, the cemetery would have run out of capacity within 18 months and the extra plots will ensure burials for at least another 10 years, preventing the need to send people to other locations.

Funding of more than £1,350,000 over the next two years was agreed by the council in February this year.

But contractors were temporarily held up for a day when people living in Wayside Gardens and Short Heath councillor Sarah-Jane Cooper arrived on site on Monday and urged them to stop.

As well as the old oak, dozens of other trees are being removed from the site to make way for the new plots.

Brian Madelin, aged 74, from Wayside Gardens, said: “It is very upsetting. They are desecrating the place.

“They are getting rid of at least 50 trees, including a 300-year-old oak which needs to be left there. Chopping down so many trees could have a real effect on climate change and they also acted as a screen from noise being heard from our gardens.”

Councillor Cooper said: “There have been three years since permission was granted and work started on the site. I think a consultation with residents should have occurred as things on the site – such as wildlife and conservation – may have changed.”

A Walsall Council spokesman said: “The plans to extend the Willenhall Lawn Cemetery were consulted on in 2015 and then considered and approved in February 2016.

“Regarding the specific oak tree referred to, there is no tree preservation order in place on this tree and neither is the site a conservation area and so the tree is not considered to be of sufficient arboricultural significance to be retained. Professional officers have completed all necessary assessments at the site, including bird surveys, over recent months before the works commenced.”