![]() ![]() Plymouth became the top trending word on Twitter with more than 31,000 tweets mostly decrying the local authority’s decision to chop down healthy trees under the cover of darkness. Members of Straw were interviewed by top radio hosts Adrian Chiles and Jeremy Vine, and national TV crews from the BBC, ITV and Channel 5 visited the city. The row over the destruction escalated with protesters receiving messages from around the country and even celebrities becoming involved. Straw founder Alison White told PlymouthLive: “The people of Plymouth could not have made it clearer, this is not what we wanted.” March 16 - celebrities wade in Submissions from within the city boundaries again showed an overwhelming majority of respondents opposed to the scheme.īut the council said that if it took out the responses from people opposed who did not give a reason why “then the scheme has significant support.” It blamed Straw for having a “significant impact” on the responses. A council document said 68% - that’s 1,537 people - of all respondents did not support the £12.7m Armada Way upgrade plan, with 16% (365) in support and 15% (330) answering “yes” but with changes being made. Plymouth City Council’s own “meaningful engagement” process resulted in an “overwhelming objection” to the proposal. It also emerged a consultation showed the public was not in favour of the scheme in any case. Plymouth people reacted with horror to the tree felling saying they were saddened and even “traumatised”. Straw members said they were “devastated” after seeing the scale of tree-felling in the city centre. Members of the campaign group Straw (Save the Trees of Armada Way) called the tree-fellers “hooligans” and branded the £12.7m Armada Way upgrade plan as a “vanity project”. The decision made it clear that “there is a risk that the funding from the Transforming Cities Fund could be lost if the project is not implemented quickly”. The council’s Tory leader Richard Bingley had signed a delegated decision to press ahead with the Armada Way scheme hours before the contractors moved in. It all started when contractors took chainsaws to 110 trees under cover of darkness before Plymouth City Council was slapped with a high court injunction. Here is a run down of the time line in what was a tumultuous period for Plymouth: March 14 - chainsaws start up The chopping down of 119 Plymouth city centre trees heralded 10 days of chaos which saw public protests and tears, children’s artworks removed, celebrities wade in, a council leader falling on his sword and a humiliating defeat for the council in court.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |