ANGER over Darlington council's apparent disinterest in rural areas erupted in Neasham over the village's willow trees.

Monday's meeting of the parish council heard that it was months since it asked if the borough would cut down the willows on its village green and it had still had no reply.

When an ancient drainage system was replaced, surveyors discovered it was swamped with the roots of the invasive trees.

They are on the village green site earmarked for a memorial garden, where a plaque and plinth are planned for next spring.

Coun John Weighell, chairman, said Neasham was not alone in being fed up with being overlooked by the borough.

"There were some bullets flying about at our annual association of parish councils' meeting with the officers and council leaders. These are not protected trees and the village wants them down."

Coun Mike Townend said: "How can someone allow a letter to lie in an in tray for six months? I would get the sack if that happened to me. If we took them down nobody would give a damn."

But Coun Eric Miller disagreed: "They would come down on us like a ton of bricks. They would notice then.

"We have been writing to them about speeding in the village for the last three years and we might as well not be here."

Coun Weighell said one tree blew down and the council cut off and shredded the branches, but left the four sections of trunk behind.

"In the floods they ended up in someone's garden. That is the amount of interest they have in this village."

Coun Peter Foster harked back to Hurworth's tree saga when the council's refusal to allow it to fell on the Grange estate ended up in huge compensation claims from residents.

"We nearly went bankrupt over that," he added. He blamed the local Labour politicians for having a general dislike of felling trees.

Coun Townend commented: "You could get rid of half the officers on the borough council and you wouldn't notice they had gone. They don't do anything."

On the speeding issue, Acting Sgt Steve Ball said he had made a request to the county's police traffic management section to take a particular interest in Neasham.

"They have rumble strips they can put down to detect people speeding over 40 to 50mph. It is wrong to wait for an accident to happen and they are taking this very seriously."

The local authority had also been contacted to find out what it could contribute, such as warning signs.

Coun Townend said the village was willing to go out and raise money towards any initiative.

"We are not saying we want, we want , we want. We are prepared to pitch in and help."

Coun Foster said now that Hurworth had speed-curbing measures in the pipeline, he thought Neasham would be next in line.

l Parish council round-up: page 15