A town council has weighed in on a growing controversy concerning the fate of three trees in a conservation area in Falmouth.

The healthy lime trees were saved twice this year and once last year following peaceful protests by a campaign group called Stop the Chop! but there is concern Cornwall Council will still fell the much-loved trees in Trelawney Road.

Falmouth Town Council is supporting calls for an inquiry into the mystery of why exactly the trees have to be chopped down. Despite repeated requests, Cornwall Council has not revealed the legal reasons why the 60-year-old trees need to be felled.

Falmouth’s mayor Alan Jewell has written to Bryan Skinner, head of transport in the Environment and Maritime Infrastructure department at Cornwall Council, strongly objecting to the loss of the mature trees.

The letter states: “The council noted the early consultation with the previous administration here at the town council in 2024. However, the council remains unable to identify the reasoning for that proposal and Cornwall Council has so far been unable to provide that reasoning nor to evidence its legal duty to remove the trees that was previously stated as the case.

“The town council do not believe that the trees are an actionable nuisance. Cornwall Council has thus far failed to provide evidence to demonstrate that they are.

“If their roots were a nuisance, then there are mitigation measures that would see the retention of the trees, including root pruning and the installation of root barriers as is done on hundreds of other similar street trees every year throughout the UK.

“They appear as healthy and mature trees, and they are important environmentally and aesthetically to the street scene offering benefits such as rainwater attenuation, carbon sequestration, habitat value, etc.”

The town council notes there are calls for an inquiry which it supports. “We can host that if you wish and need a local venue,” writes Cllr Jewell.

He goes on to ask Cornwall Council to provide details as to how much the three failed attempts to fell the trees has so far cost and details of any legal compensation paid to any third party in the case.

The letter adds: “Cornwall Council has also stated that there were exemption notices on numerous street trees in Falmouth, much wider than the three lime trees. Is that the case? The town council was not aware of this. Can you identify those trees please and the reasons for the exemption notices?”

The Stop the Chop! campaign group has welcomed the town council’s letter. Their spokesperson Debs Newman said: “Stop the Chop! very much welcomes the direct action taken by Falmouth Town Council and thanks them for this support. We echo their call for a full inquiry because key questions remain unanswered, the most significant being associated with the planning application decided by Cornwall Council in January 2022.

“In this it agreed to prune one tree root in a subterranean kitchen of a neighbouring property and install a root barrier. However, by 2024 this plan had changed to the unlawful proposition of felling three, mature trees located in the conservation area. Who came up with this idea and why? Who signed off on it and why?

“Someone at Cornwall Council knows the answers to these questions which we have posed since December 2024 but there has been no meaningful reply despite the statement issued by Cornwall Council at the end of March which promised communication with community representatives. Ten weeks on and the silence is deafening.”

Over the past two weeks, Cornwall Council was asked a number of times for the exact legal reasons why the trees have to be felled. They were also asked for a response to a growing feeling among some Falmouth residents that there is a council cover-up at the heart of the matter.

The council’s communications team were asked how much the whole matter has cost taxpayers and if there is a compensation / insurance issue at the heart of the mystery. The council has simply responded that it has no update and “we are not able to comment on this at the moment”.