Ancient woodland threatened by £156m Manadon upgrade in Plymouth

Trees in ancient woodland could be cut down and homes and gardens compulsorily purchased as part of a £156m scheme to improve a traffic junction.

Plymouth City Council is consulting on plans to add new lanes on the approaches and exits of Manadon roundabout to the north of the city to increase capacity.

Tree protection campaigners are concerned that could mean cutting down trees in Manadon Wood and said there was a lack of trust in the council after it cut down more than 100 trees at night in Armada Way.

The city council said it was negotiating with property owners about buying land and some trees would have to be felled but said it would plant new trees in their place.

One of the proposals is to add another lane on the approach to the roundabout on the A386 Outland Road which runs alongside ancient woodland.

Dave Curno is a volunteer with Plymouth Tree People, a charity that works to protect and increase the number of trees in the city.

He said: “The council has said there will be a lot of trees that need to be removed and they will be doing a three-for-one replacement.

“Our worry is that doesn’t value the trees as they are – so a little sapling might not need replacing whereas some of the ancient or veteran trees are much more valuable and the ancient woodland in particular is irreplaceable.”

Mr Curno said following the Armada Way tree-felling, trust in the council “does need to be built up”.

He said: “The Armada Way independent learning review stated that trust is the one thing the council needed to work on and this is the sort of scheme they can use to work on that trust.”

John Stevens, cabinet member for transport at the Labour-led council, said the council was consulting on all aspects of the scheme: “We have learned, we are a learning council.”

Stevens said some trees would have to be removed “inevitably” but the council would replace each tree lost with “at least three trees”.

Regarding the possibility of compulsory purchase orders on homes and land in the area to facilitate the project, Stevens said: “In all schemes where you’re expecting improvements to lanes there might be the loss of some land but that wouldn’t be against the will of the people who are actually living in them now.”

Plymouth City Council has £133m of funding from the Department for Transport to pay for the scheme and said it wanted to improve traffic flow for everyone passing through Manadon as the city expands.

The effectiveness of the plans and the cost of the scheme are also being called into question by the Conservative councillor for the area, Chris Wood.

He said: “Plymouth does not have a very good track record of either financial management or project delivery.

“The amount of disruption residents are going to face for ten years – people losing their gardens, losing their houses as well.

“There’s a lot of concern locally and we need to make sure the council are actually listening and can adapt the scheme to suit local people’s needs.”

More information events will take place on Friday at Manadon Sports Hub and on Saturday at Central Library with the public consultation closing on 24 June.