An Auchterhouse woman has spoken of her disappointment that a row of ”iconic” cherry trees is to be removed to make way for a new supermarket in Dundee.
A spokeswoman for Asda said: ”As part of the development of the new Asda store, we will be retaining almost all of the trees along the Kingsway frontage of the site.
”It will be necessary to remove some of the trees from Myrekirk Road in order to accommodate the main site access. However, we will be providing new planting in this area.”
She could not confirm whether the new trees planted would be saplings or mature trees.
It is an offence for any person to cut, lop, top, uproot, wilfully damage or destroy any tree subject to a protection order, unless six weeks’ notice has been given to the council.
Trees subject to a preservation order are seen as giving amenity value to the community.
The new £24 million superstore was given the green light in March after a two-year legal battle with Tesco was finally thrown out of court.
Tesco, which has a store less than a mile away on South Road, had hoped to scupper the build, claiming it infringed upon a number of policies in Dundee’s local planning framework.
However, the Supreme Court rejected Tesco’s claims giving Asda the go-ahead for the new 52,000 sq ft store.
The new store is expected to create up to 480 new jobs as well as an additional 200 jobs during the construction phase.
The site had lain deserted since NCR ceased manufacturing there in 2009, with the loss of over 600 jobs, after more than 60 years in the city.
Mrs Murie contacted Dundee West MP Jim McGovern who explained it was not a parliamentary matter but contacted Dundee City Council on her behalf.
The trees on Myrekirk Road may be in bloom now but up to 14 are to be torn down to allow access to the new Asda superstore being built on the former NCR factory site.
Hazel Murie, who drives past the trees regularly, has hit out at the move.
”It’s an absolute disgrace,” she said. ”They have a preservation order on them but the council appears to have waived that. The lady at the council said they were going to remove a few for access.
”The trees are not close together because cherry trees are very wide so I thought three maximum would be all you need to create access.”
However, Mrs Murie was forwarded a notice from the director of city development, Mike Galloway, who said approximately 14 trees were to be removed from the Myrekirk Road side of the site.
In a letter he said: ”A detailed landscape scheme was submitted. The proposals involved the removal of approximately 14 trees.”
He said that the majority of the cherry trees on the Kingsway side of the site would be retained and a tree-lined walkway would be planted in the centre of the car park.
Mrs Murie said: ”Fourteen of these trees being knocked down is nearly half of them. To me that’s totally unacceptable. They are on the boundary and it’s totally unnecessary.
”They go back to well back last century and I would suspect they were planted when the NCR was built. In many ways they are iconic. To remove half of them for a supermarket is a disgrace.”
She said she had spoken to one woman whose elderly father remembers the cherry blossom well.
Mrs Murie warned people to take photographs of the trees while they still have the opportunity.
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