Row over 100-year-old hedgerows as work on new Penwortham Tesco site motors on

Questions have been raised after supermarket giant Tesco announced a century-old hedgerow will be pulled down at its new site in Penwortham.
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The hedgerow, on the Tesco site's boundary with Cop Lane, falls into the Rawsthorne Road conservation area, and in the planning application, supermarket bosses vowed to retain "as much of the existing landscaping on the site as possible".

But now, residents living near the site on the junction of Cop Lane and Liverpool Road, say they have been told that the hedgerow will come down, to be replaced with lower-lying vegetation.

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Mary Heaton, who lives in Cop Lane, opposite the Tesco site, said she would be seeking legal advice over the move.

The under-threat hedgerow on the boundary of Cop Lane, Penwortham. Image courtesy of Google.The under-threat hedgerow on the boundary of Cop Lane, Penwortham. Image courtesy of Google.
The under-threat hedgerow on the boundary of Cop Lane, Penwortham. Image courtesy of Google.

She said: "I feel it's so awful to destroy it. Why can't they leave the hedge?

"It's been there all the time I've lived in Cop Lane - 73 years - and ever since my family moved into the area 100 years ago.

"We (the residents) all feel so strongly about it. It's mentioned in the original planning statement that the hedgerow would be maintained. This is a conservation area."

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On social media, Darren Dedrie wrote: "There is completely no need to take out what is there. It’s not like people will drive past and not see it! Insane decision by planners."

A crane moving the self-service petrol pumps on siteA crane moving the self-service petrol pumps on site
A crane moving the self-service petrol pumps on site

Ken Addison wrote: "There was I thinking the corner was a conservation area and that the mature hedgerow and area behind was protected. No problems with it being maintained and cut or dead tree removal but the type of planting that Tesco will put in will hardly be natural looking."

When asked about the removal of the hedgerow as well as scrub, a Tesco spokesman said that it had "become unmanageable on the site from years of neglect".

They added: "This will be replaced with a mixture of lower scale native and ornamental shrubbery. All the mature trees on the site will stay in place.”

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Tesco is confident it is within the agreed details of the planning permission.

The row comes as a new crane was moved into place to install four self-service petrol pumps on site, ready for the planned opening in February.

The self-service petrol pumps are the most up-to-date technology and require no extensive digging or groundworks to install.

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