Taylor Wimpey fells to satisfy Roslin residents angry at loss of trees

Pic Lisa Ferguson 09/12/2019. Local residents Daya Feldwick, Mark Turner and Helen Kirkness, who are angry at the felling of trees by Taylor Wimpey to build new homes.

The enabling works by Taylor Wimpey at the old Roslin Biocentre resulted in a quarter mile of mature trees being felled and chipped. The homebuilder has promised to plant more than 200 new trees.

Local resident Helen Kirkness said: “Could some effort not have been made to keep them? That was about 20/30 trees. It’s been more than 100 in total over the site. I thought they would leave the mature trees on the other side but they are now taking them down, about half a dozen of them. And I’ve just counted 20 mature trees bordering our land earmarked for felling

“I don’t see why they are being cut down. Yes, they can get more houses in with the tress out the way. It’s just there is no thought to it.

“I suggested that they didn’t build the houses right up to our fence. The original plan had a car park there.

“So they are squeezing more houses in.”

Helen is concerned about the impact the destruction of these trees could have on the environment and local wildlife, adding: “While Chris Packham asks for us to plant a tree and save the planet and the Scottish Government promises to plant extra trees to combat climate change, is it too simplistic to suggest we keep the trees and hedges we’ve already got?

“I think you can be a bit more sensitive about the environment. It was a beautiful site, they didn’t have to cut down that many trees.”

Pauline Mills, land & planning director for Taylor Wimpey East Scotland, said: “We would like to take this opportunity to reassure the local community that pre-construction work to remove some trees on our land in Roslin is part of our approved detailed planning permission from Midlothian Council.

“The plans for our development in Roslin were in the public domain for some considerable time before the Approval of Matters Specified consent was confirmed by the Local Authority, and the controlled removal of some trees has always been part of our approach.

“As part of our overall plan for the development we are retaining the majority of the existing trees and in time we will be planting over 200 new trees as part of our development proposals.”