Two town-centre maple trees could be removed for road changes

The trees, which stand at the sides of the Chester Street and Smithfield Road junction, near Shrewsbury Railway Station, are the subject of an application from Shropshire Council.

The authority wants to remove the trees as part of its redesign of the road system at the Station Gyratory area.

The trees currently sit in protective fencing on either side of Chester Street, and are part of five in the area.

In a public consultation on the plan the council explains that the redesign of the road requires the removal of the two trees.

One sits on the Chester Street of the junction, and the other on the Smithfield Road side.

The Chester Street tree will be affected by plans to change the course of the road, cutting the route closer to where it stands, while the Smithfield Road tree is affected by plans to relocate a loading bay.

The consultation on the council website states: "The proposal is to remove two trees (field maple) at the Chester Street/Smithfield Road junction, one of them located outside the Castle Pointe building and one of them located outside the H2O building.

"Tree notices have been attached to the affected trees for ease of identification.

"The removal of these trees is required to enable a re-design of the Smithfield Road/Chester Street junction, an integral part for meeting Shropshire Council’s objectives for the LUF2 Project 2 (Station Quarter) scheme.

The new junction arrangement is influenced by a number of constraints which results in the existing trees being impacted.

"Efforts have been made to retain the trees and mitigate the impact on trees during the works."

The consultation says that decisions in designing the new layout mean that three of the five trees will be retained.

It adds: "Critical health and safety factors within the new junction layout mean that tree three and three four cannot be retained without undermining key objectives of the scheme and the outcomes of the original funding allocation, hence the proposed removal of these two trees."

The consultation closes on December 18.