Tree felling PAUSED in Wellingborough as developers finally agree to temporary truce

A historic avenue of trees in Wellingborough has been given a stay of execution following a summit between politicians and developers.

The parties met to thrash out the fate of the lime trees in Wellingborough which have become the focus of national scrutiny in recent days.

Leader of North Northants Council Cllr Jason Smithers (Con, Oundle), MP for Wellingborough Peter Bone and NNC chief executive Rob Bridge held an hour-long meeting with Vistry bosses Andrew Bloxham and Keith Carnegie at the authority’s Swanspool offices.

The two sides agreed to temporarily halt work and Vistry vowed to hold a public engagement session ahead of any more felling.

As news spread of the pause, campaigners gathered at the council offices – the start point of the Wellingborough Walks and where the original planning decision was made in December 22, 2015.

Campaigner Marion Turner-Hawes said: “Our main aims to get a pause and public consultation have been met. Ultimately we want to see every or as many trees as possible retained and we also want to see that the processes that are in place to safeguard our community and our natural assets are properly respected.

“I really welcome today’s news and would like to say a big thank you to colleagues at NNC and Vistry and our MP for finally getting together to resolve this and show that they are listening to the deep concerns of the community.

"But my biggest thanks go to every person from within our community and outside for making such amazing efforts to stand up for what they believe. We are delighted that people will get the chance to get properly heard on their matter.

"I can’t finish without mentioning our heroic barrister Paul Powlesland for his unwavering support – without his intervention we wouldn’t have got here.

“It’s about being heard and not being buried in paperwork and people having a chance to have a say. I welcome that they have worked really hard. We would have preferred this to have happened two weeks ago. The waste of public resources – the police and firefighters.”

Speaking after the meeting on behalf of those present, Cllr Smithers told the Northants Telegraph: “I absolutely welcome Vistry coming here today. They have put a proposal on the table which allows for a public engagement session to take place very soon and no more trees will be cut down in the short term, whilst this engagement session takes place.

“The development has to happen, the road has to come through. They have also brought forward a plan to leave some of the trees as well. The amount of trees that are being cut down is certainly reducing and there’s potential to save some.

"They have come here today with a very business-like attitude and that’s been welcomed. I thank them for coming today to listen to the community - we are the spokespeople of the community here and I’m pleased that they have agreed to this temporary pause and we can move on from here.”

It is believed that the pause will be ‘weeks’.

A spokesman for Stanton Cross said: “Keith Carnegie and Andrew Bloxham from the Stanton Cross team had a very constructive meeting with Peter Bone MP, Council Leader Jason Smithers, Chief Executive Rob Bridge and Councillor Jennie Bone, and we look forward to continuing to work closely with them on the delivery of Stanton Cross.

"We discussed how to minimise the removal of trees necessary to deliver vital infrastructure improvement works, and we have proposed a community engagement event is held this month to go through the plans in more detail with local residents. We will give updates soon on that when the arrangements have been finalised.”

Wellingborough Town Council will hold a public meeting about the trees at 7pm on Thursday, March 9, at Sir Christopher Hatton School.