TRANSPORT chiefs have been accused of underhand tactics over plans to chop down 28 city centre trees to make way for the trams.
Tram firm TIE this week admitted it planned to cut down the avenue of trees along Shandwick Place – adjacent to Coates and Atholl crescents – in order to widen the road to accommodate new bus and tram lanes.
Yet letters today seen by the Evening
News and sent to residents in March, stated there were no plans to use the gardens during construction or when the trams were up and running. The letter added: "None of the trees or habitat will be disturbed".
It has also emerged that the gardens off Shandwick Place have been compulsorily purchased by the council following confusion over who held title deeds to the land. This move cleared the way for tram chiefs to go-ahead with their plans to cut down the trees.
Residents today hit out at the trams chiefs' U-turn and questioned how only four months ago they didn't know the road needed to be widened or the trees felled.
Tram firm TIE today said it was "investigating" the difference between its letter of March and the latest plans to cull the trees.
Pringle Fisher, 68, a retired dentist who lives on Atholl Crescent, said: "I just feel they have gone back on the statement they gave to us saying the trees were not going to be touched.
"We have been to two public meetings now where TIE officials said categorically that the gardens would not be affected. It is frustrating because we have not been able to do anything about this until now. We have been under the impression for the last four months that there was no issue with the trees."
The trees along Shandwick Place, which are a mixture of oak, lime and maple, were planted in 1996 to replace trees which had succumbed to Dutch elm disease and died.
Mike Campbell, a property developer who lives on Atholl Crescent, is leading a campaign to save the trees.
He said: "All of this doesn't make sense. They seem to have gone about this whole issue quietly in the hope that nobody will notice what they are up to.
"It seems bizarre that in March they had no plans to cut the trees, yet today they want chop them all down.
"I have got my lawyer checking the title deeds situation because it seems odd that we would not have at least been informed of this change. Something doesn't add up here."
TIE came under fire earlier this week for the lack of information in letters being sent to get homeowners' permission to fix overhead wires to buildings along the tram route.
The letters have been sent to hundreds of building owners along the airport to Newhaven line, where the tram firm wants to attach overhead cables used to power the trams. But legal experts hit out because the letters do not make clear that owners could be in breach of their mortgage conditions by agreeing to the fixings.
A spokesman for TIE said: "There is clearly a difference in position between the letter of March 4 and the final design. We are investigating how this occurred.
"As previously stated, TIE has committed to replacing any trees removed to a ratio of at least two to one, and this principle still applies."
