Harry Redknapp golf club ‘cut down trees that spoiled view’

♦ A golf club is in a row with its local council after it chopped down 36 protected trees so members could enjoy better views of a lake.

The trees, some of which were 70ft tall, provided shelter from the wind and privacy from golfers playing the first hole of the Parkstone Golf Club in Dorset, whose members include Harry Redknapp, the football manager.

The club said the treefelling was to restore the area to heathland. However, the 60- to 80-year-old pines were subject to a tree preservation order and any bid to remove the protected status had to go through the local authority.

Residents claimed that members at the £1,725-a-year club were unhappy the trees obscured the view of the course’s lake from the veranda of the clubhouse.

Andy Dearing, Poole Borough Council’s planning enforcement officer, said the council was investigating the “alleged unauthorised destruction of protected trees at Parkstone Golf Club”.