PROTESTS over axing a row of trees in a village sparked an emergency meeting of a parish council with standing room only.
Villagers in Arkendale, near Knaresborough, reacted angrily when they saw ten hornbeam and whitebeam trees getting the chop from Northern Electric - with the blessing of the parish council.
Alan Gough, chairman of Arkendale, Coneythorpe and Clareton Parish Council has defended the tree felling on safety grounds.
The trees in Moor Lane were snagging overhead electricity lines and the parish council acted on advice from Northern Electric following power cuts in the village.
Councillor Gough said: "It was a case of the wrong trees in the wrong place. They were deemed dangerous by Northern Electric.
"We had to act from a safety point of view because there was a potential for loss of life," said Coun Gough.
The emergency parish council meeting, attended by more than 60 people, lasted over two hours.
A working party has been set up to look at the issue of replacement trees and a plea will be made to Northern Electric for their overhead wires to be put underground.
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