23-05-2025
'Chainsaw massacre' that saw 110 trees chopped down in dead of night in city centre without telling anyone cost council at least £3.3m
A Labour council's decision to cut down more than 100 trees in the middle of a city centre has cost them at least £3.3m, a report has found.
Plymouth City Council (PCC) sparked outrage when its group of 'monsters in the night' felled 110 trees on the city's Armada Way in March 2023 in what was described as a 'chainsaw massacre'.
The move was part of a regeneration project but furious campaigners labelled it 'ecological vandalism'.
And according to an independent review into the council's actions, the tree-felling 'still reverberates today'.
The review led by a panel of independent experts through Solace, explored how decisions were made, how the project was managed, and how the council communicated with the public.
The report added that 'significant tensions' remain within the council and between the groups and individuals involved.
The 79-page report, which looks at the timeframe of the Armada Way plan, added: 'It is apparent that there are wounds still to be healed for those individuals most directly impacted.
'There are pockets of regret, remorse, guilt, blame and defiance.'
In response, the council acknowledged weaknesses in the delivery of the project and said lessons would be learned.
They also provided an estimate of the costs involved including legal costs, inflationary increases, staff time and the £130,000 spent on the review itself.
The report said: 'Understandably, no quantification has been made of the cost to the City Council of reputational damage or the cost of re-building trust.'
It added: 'More significantly, no assessment has been made of the costs to business and the lost revenue to the local economy from having the key artery of the city centre so impacted.'
It said the £3.3m figure was 'the lower end of the likely cost' and said this showed the importance of major projects being 'adequately resourced with 'thorough political and senior officer oversight'.
The council said the £3.3m figure was 'the lower end of the likely cost' and said this showed the importance of major projects being 'adequately resourced with 'thorough political and senior officer oversight'
Armada Way started as a circa £12.7m project and is now projected at circa £30m.
Campaigners brought a case to the High Court in March 2024 claiming that Plymouth City Council had acted unlawfully.
The case was dismissed but Judge David Elvin KC was scathing of the council's conduct relating to the hearing and said the local authority's production of evidence had been 'highly unsatisfactory and revealed the lack of transparency in its procedures'.
The report added: 'It is important that the council finds a means to rebuild trust, internally and externally, if it is going to maximise the benefit to its citizens that its strong regeneration programme should bring to the city.'
PCC Chief Executive Tracey Lee said apologised and said the council 'came up short of where we needed to be'.
She said: 'The issues highlighted in this report are not reflective of the vast majority of what we do. But they do show us where we need to improve.
'We are committed to being a learning organisation - one that reflects honestly, adapts, and grows from experience. That's not just important for us as a Council - it's vital for the people we serve. When we learn, we improve.. And when we improve, we deliver better outcomes for our communities.'
Ms Lee emphasised that Plymouth City Council is not 'anti-tree', adding that there are 'over 35,000 new trees growing and establishing across the city'.
She added: 'This has resulted in us being recognised by the Tree Cities of the World programme. But we are also ambitious for Plymouth. We want this city to grow - and that means making difficult decisions.
'This review was about how we made those decisions, and it's evident that we didn't always get it right. We are committed to learning from this experience and doing better.'
