Otley tree felling postponed due to protesters

National World - LocalTV

The felling of a 180-year-old oak tree and a tulip tree next to Otley bridge to give a crane access to construct a temporary footbridge has been postponed.

Transcript

00:00This footage shows what was meant to be the last afternoon for this 180-year-old oak tree by Otley

00:06Bridge. On Friday the 31st of January, it was due to be felled, along with a tulip tree,

00:11but protesters prevented contractors from proceeding. Leeds City Council have said the

00:16trees need to be removed to make way for a crane to build a temporary footpath across the River

00:20Wharf, while the current pedestrian footway is repaired. They've said they recognise the

00:25strength of feeling around protecting the trees, but say six months of single-lane traffic across

00:29the bridge would be detrimental to the town. The issue has split opinion among locals.

00:34The bridge needs repairing, that's obvious, but I think the urgency has been created as a kind of

00:41fake urgency. A few more months wouldn't help, it wouldn't matter. While they look into what

00:49decisions the council have made, they've exploited the fact that people can't stand

00:54waiting an extra 10 minutes across the bridge, which I have sympathy with, but there's still

01:00lots of people who live north of the river who think it's a shame to destroy this oak,

01:06especially when just a bit of clarity and a bit of truthfulness could be given on the situation.

01:12I'm disappointed that the progress has been halted because there has been quite a lot of

01:16consultation and there's been things put on by the local councillors on Facebook and information

01:24sent through our letterbox anyway regarding what's going on. I think the majority of people

01:30are very conscious of, yes it is a tree and it's been there 150 years, but some trees have been

01:37around for a lot longer and it is for the benefit of most people and I think most people,

01:43from me speaking with plenty of people, they agree that really it needs to come and

01:49the bridge needs to get sorted out. I know that there were plans put out about the bridge

01:53and replacing the footway, but there was no mention of the implications towards the natural

02:01environment and we've not been able to get an answer either about whether there will

02:07be lights on the bridge even without the tree, because I don't know how they're going to get

02:12the footway out otherwise without putting lights on the bridge. So I think that's where a lot of

02:18the protectors are feeling why they're here is because they've not received sensible answers.

02:24Leeds City Council are proposing 13 replanted trees to take the place of the one or two they're

02:30taking down here and for the good of the people I think the best thing to do is to take it down.

02:36I know it's a loss and it's a nice tree, it's an oak tree, it's a good tree, but at the end of the day

02:41it's one tree against six or seven months of traffic chaos. The majority of people seem to

02:47be for it although they do acknowledge that it's not the best of things to have to chop a mature

02:52oak tree down, but you know it's not a perfect world is it and we've got to live in it and we've got to function.

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