COUNCILLORS have opposed plans for eight trees to be cut down at Wellington Tennis Club.

The club has applied to the Somerset West and Taunton Council for planning permission to fell five elm trees, two sycamores and an ash tree – all protected by a Tree Preservation Order – at its headquarters in Courtland Drive.

But members of Wellington Town Council’s planning committee were not happy about the proposals when they held their latest meeting via Zoom conferencing facilities.

Cllr Mark Lithgow said: “I strongly object to this. Why on earth they want to cut these trees down is beyond me.” He said people living close to the tennis courts in Court Drive already had concerns about light pollution caused by floodlighting and that cutting down the trees would ‘exasperate a problem already there’.

Cllr John Thorne said people ‘feared” the club might chop down the trees and eventually turn that area into a car park. He admitted, however, that some of the trees were ‘causing a nuisance to the tennis courts’.

But he added that there was no official report from an arborist – a tree expert – to say why they should be chopped down, while there did not seem to be any plans to replace them either.

“Those two points need to be highlighted,” he said.

Cllr Andrew Govier said: “I don’t see felling them is the answer. The TPO was put on those trees for a specific reason and they are a good barrier between the tennis courts and neighbouring properties. If they were just looking to cut a branch off here and a branch off there, I would be in agreement.”

The Mayor, Cllr Janet Lloyd, questioned why anyone would want to cut down healthy trees.

A final decision on the application rests with the Somerset West and Taunton Council.

The club has said in its application that the trees had been assessed by an arborist and that each tree had problems and ‘early signs’ of disease including Dutch Elm Disease and Ash Die Back.

Sue Rackley, of Wellington Tennis Club, has told SWT: “We love having trees beside us but not dangerous ones. When we asked for a survey to be done, we were taken aback on how many trees are diseased. Removing some will aid other trees to flourish as over time some trees grow too big and need to be replaced.”

She said there were real concerns that if a tree fell onto the clubhouse they would not be able to afford to replace the facility.