Doncaster drug addiction centre accused of 'environmental vandalism' as 100-year-old trees axed

Workers moved in to fell the trees outside Aspire Drug and Alcohol Services on Thorne Road last week, with agency chiefs saying they were ‘unsightly’ and a magnet for anti-social behaviour.

The long-running centre is used to help drug and alcohol addicts in Doncaster.

But one fuming local resident has blasted Aspire saying that the behaviour of users should have been tackled, rather than the trees being chopped down, saying: “Shame on you. I do hope you are proud of yourselves.”

Angry Phil Penfold, who lives nearby, said: “They decided, without any apparent public consultation, to wantonly and vindictively destroy six beautifully healthy trees on Thorne Road, which grew outside the rambling premises of Aspire.

“These trees - one of which was magnificent in springtime, when in full blossom, and something of a local landmark - were, apparently, and according to Aspire, used in some way to disguise “anti-social behaviour”.

"This rather begs the question of why the anti-social behaviour of human beings wasn’t tackled head-on, rather than felling the innocent mature trees.

"The drugs service is housed directly opposite the gates to a major school (Hall Cross Academy) so that now the pupils can see these brutalist Victorian red brick buildings in all their “glory”. As well as the clients popping in and out.

“Those who staff the offices won’t care at all – they, of course, look out onto the verdant churchyard across the way. But the public in general is now permanently deprived of these trees, which have been giving pleasure and shade for over one hundred years.

"It appears that no member of the Doncaster public was asked to comment about their fate – they were brutally cut down over just a few hours last Friday.

"I was told that there are no plans to replace them with saplings or with appropriate shrubbery, and the person I spoke to at Aspire was both truculent and complacent.

“This is environmental vandalism, pure and simple. Shame on you. I do hope that you are proud of yourselves.”

Stuart Green, manager of Aspire Drugs and Alcohol Service which is run by Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust (RDaSH) said: “We are sorry that one of your readers feels like this.

“We took the action to remove the trees because some had grown from seeds from the larger trees on the main road, they were overgrown and looked unsightly.

"They weren’t in a good condition, people walking by were throwing rubbish into them and we’ve also had some incidents of anti-social behaviour in the garden.

“We gained planning permission to remove them,” added Stuart.

“We have also used removing the trees as an opportunity to revamp the front of Rosslyn House, on Thorne Road as we want to be good neighbours.

"We’ve improved the paths and the edging of the garden and painted the outside of the building.”