The damage to poplar trees at a site in Les Tracheries Road was reported to the Development & Planning Authority on Monday evening.
It made the order immediately the following day. It came into effect immediately and will remain so for an initial period of six months. The DPA must then confirm or revoke the order, taking any representations or objections into account.
‘We’ve got to protect Guernsey’s trees, green spaces and biodiversity,’ said DPA president Neil Inder.
‘As part of the focused review of the Island Development Plan, the developer of the site was made aware around eight weeks ago that the stand of poplars was likely to be subject to a protection order when the policy letter came to the States in the autumn.
‘I was sent photos of the damage to the tree roots at 8pm on Monday evening, and the Planning Service has put this tree protection order in place less than 24 hours later.’
The order makes it an offence to cut down, lop, top, prune, cut or compact the roots or the ground level of the root area, or to uproot, wilfully damage or wilfully destroy these trees without planning permission.
‘The damage to the root base of the identified stand was significant,’ said Deputy Inder. ‘A track machine had scraped the base of some of the trees exposing the roots and destroying others. Being damaged in the spring, as the trees were coming into leaf, would have a detrimental effect on this stand of poplar.’
‘The authority is extremely grateful to the member of public who notified us, and in equal measure is disappointed by the activities of the developer.
‘We lost some 2,000 trees in Storm Goretti and many in Storm Ciaran. Our trees deserve better, and I know I speak for the majority of islanders who find this activity disappointing, if not cynical.’
Deputy Inder said that the DPA would continue to focus on guidance on tree protection as he said although it was effective in this instance, he was not convinced it was strong enough to protect against ‘developer adventures’.
‘Our authority will focus on this matter and work with our charitable partners to ensure this nonsense doesn’t happen again,’ he said.
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