DRASTIC pruning and pollarding of a line of 50 lime trees alongside the A39 between Dunster Marsh and the Ellicombe roundabout, Alcombe, to widen a cycling and walking route, sent a storm of protests to Somerset County Council’s Highways Authority this week.

Local residents also took to social media to complain that cutting back the 25-year-old trees, which had previously provided a dense green backdrop on the north side of the main road, had seriously damaged an attractive landscape.

Protesters claimed that it had not been necessary to cut the trees back so drastically, that a ‘beautiful line of trees had been butchered’ and now looked like ‘giant toilet brushes sticking out of a hedge’.

The work was carried out to prepare for the footpath alongside the A39 to be widened and improved to provide a jointly-used cycleway and footpath which would be closer to the trees. It was hoped that pollarding would restrict growth and prevent tree roots damaging the surface of the new path.

This week, critics of the scheme claimed that it would have been more economic to widen the footpath along the south side of the A39 between the Dunster underpass and the ‘old’ A39 and use the former main road as part of the cycleway.

Chris Adams, former West Somerset Council parks and gardens manager, said this week that he believed it had not been necessary to pollard the trees so drastically. One solution would have been to remove a few trees that were causing problems and keep the rest thinned out.

“Now they have been severely pollarded and an on-going pollarding maintenance regime will have to be followed to restrict their growth in the future.

“Not an ideal situation as the lime trees - if left to mature naturally - would eventually provide a splendid line of tall trees.”

Mr Adams added: “I did suggest that the widening and improvement of the existing path on the south side of the A39 would be an alternative option thus avoiding the necessity to pollard and be a less expensive operation. A representative of the county council said this would be problematical, but I feel it would be feasible.”

The Free Press understands that pollarding scheduled for further trees along the footpath could be reconsidered in the light of the public reaction.

This week a highways authority spokesman said: “We needed to carry out cutting back and pollarding of trees in preparation for a scheme to improve cycling and walking provision on this route, which is scheduled for later in the Spring.

“The clearance work was necessary in order to achieve the required widths and levels for the pathway and was carried out sensitively before the nesting season by a specialist contractor.

“We understand local people’s concerns about the volume of cutback, but these are strong healthy trees and, as we move into Spring, the impact will be less apparent and the trees will grow back to be a better shape without obstructing the path.”