Health and safety brings end of road for tree-lined avenue bid

Now furious villagers, who have worked for more than a year to get 30 trees planted at the entrance to Staveley, near Knaresborough, will have to give back thousands of pounds awarded to the scheme by the end of the month.

It is the second time in recent months that North Yorkshire County Council has blocked a tree-planting project in the area and regeneration groups who were working on the project alongside the regional development agency, Yorkshire Forward, have described the decision as "very disappointing".

Project organiser Paul Smith, 59, of Main Street, Staveley, said: "This is a short-sighted and wholly distorted view of what is important.

"We had to jump through so many hurdles to get it to this stage only to be blocked by the council right at the end. They are caught up in health and safety and have lost all common sense."

Mr Smith added: "The council is saying the trees could be a danger to motorists but the verges alongside the road are very wide and for 40 years they are going to be nothing but stumps anyway.

"They are making the countryside only fit for cars.

"Public money is obviously very tight at the moment and we do not know when we will get another chance like this. We have had to concede defeat and are very disillusioned."

The chairman of Staveley and Copgrove Parish Council, Nick Stringer, said: "It would have been a lovely addition to the village and we are all very disappointed.

"We are encouraged to plant trees and improve the environment but then when we try to we are banned from doing so to make way for cars."

The residents first applied a year ago to Yore Vision, a regeneration group covering Boroughbridge and the Ure Valley, and managed to secure 3,200 from regeneration agency Yorkshire Forward to plant 30 English lime trees.

But despite being given the go-ahead from consultants from nearby Harrogate Council, when they went to the county council for a licence it was rejected.

The 3,200 will now have to be given back to Yorkshire Forward at the end of the financial year.

The chairman of Yore Vision, Jane Barber, said: "This is very frustrating. This was one of our major projects but we have now lost the money and we are all very disappointed.

"The county council blocked another application of ours to plant some oak trees in a nearby village just before Christmas.

"Everybody in Staveley went through all the right processes and we have had expert advice at every stage of this telling us the scheme would be fine.

"This would have created a beautiful tree-lined avenue and a real asset to the village – now this is just an opportunity lost."

A county council spokesman said: "North Yorkshire County Council is happy to support parish councils in tree planting, and has worked with Staveley parish council to find the most appropriate places to plant their trees.

"However, as a highways authority, North Yorkshire cannot sanction the planting of trees in verges along the side of national speed limit roads in the interests of road safety. Trees planted too close to roads can affect the road structure and interfere with services laid in the verges.

"They can also lead to greater injury should a motorist hit a tree due to an accident."

Last month the county council ordered a county-wide review of its road maintenance policy after the Yorkshire Post revealed it had resurfaced a dead-end farm track leading to a field owned by a senior highways manager in Staveley.