From the Bristol Post this morning:
This raises many questions:
Residents of a street in Bristol are being investigated after they hired a tree surgeon and chopped down dozens of trees along a railway line to improve the view from the backs of their house.
Network Rail said the residents of Cromwell Road did not have permission to send the tree surgeon company onto the embankment next to Montpelier station, and said the incident was serious enough for a full-blown investigation to be launched.
Furious residents living nearby have been left shocked after discovering their neighbours had clubbed together to hire a tree surgeon company, and sent them onto Network Rail land on Wednesday and Thursday last week to start cutting down a large swathe of woodland.
The work was done, neighbours claim, to improve the views from the backs of the homes on Cromwell Road, and to allow more light into their rear gardens.
This raises many questions:
- Why were the tree surgeons not arresting for trespassing on the railway?
- Why did Network Rail not turn up until Friday when the works happened on Thursday and Friday?
- Is the stability of the embankment now compromised?
- Can the tree surgeons be prosecuted for these works?