A ROW of saplings donated by the Woodland Trust have mistakenly been cut in half by blundering Redditch Borough Council employees.
The ‘whips’ were lopped by workers trying to tidy up a footpath connecting Oakly Road on Mount Pleasant and Bentley Close off Plymouth Road.
Planting of the trees was arranged in early 2017 by the Borough’s Allotment Officer at the time.
Whips are used for making hedges and can usually be bought in bundles or as single plants from late autumn to early spring.
Philip Bladon, a member of Bentley Close Community Association, said: “It’s abysmal that such carelessness can result in the whips being destroyed.
“It’s such a shame to see them go to waste because they are very useful to the environment.”
Mr Bladon said he preferred the ‘old council system’ where dedicated landscape staff were assigned to specific areas to look after – such as cutting grass or collecting litter.
“Since the ‘Place Team’ method was adopted I find the quality and frequency of Borough Council’s work to have deteriorated significantly.
“The whips being chopped down is not the only environmental issue in the area because I also constantly come across litter.
“For example there’s a glass on the side of the footpath which has been there for several years.
“The council needs to be more active.”
A spokesperson for Redditch Borough Council said: “We are continuing to look into this situation and work with the relevant officers involved.”
The Woodland Trust regularly offers free bundles of trees to schools and local communities as part of its mission to plant 64million trees over the next ten years.
