‘Dangerous’ tree axed after it threatened to crash down on home of 96-year-old man and cause flooding in Croston

And flood defence volunteers in Croston near Chorley have now stood down after more fallen timber was removed from the River Yarrow to calm fears of a potential disaster.

The locals raised the alarm when part of a giant black poplar broke off in heavy winds and crashed down narrowly missing the pensioner's property and four vital sensors on a footbridge which control the £7m flood gates further up the river.

Days later two more smaller trees toppled over in heavy rain and landed across the Yarrow, causing a dam which slowed up the flow of water.

Yet just hours after the Post highlighted the danger Environment Agency staff cut down what was left of the poplar and removed the trees from the river.

"It's a relief," said parish councillor Kath Almond, chair of the Lower Yarrow Flood Action group.

"It took the Environment Agency almost six weeks of deliberating how to take down a rotten tree overhanging the River Yarrow, before the decision was made for them when a second tree fell into the river.

"This tree could possibly have caused a flood in heavy rain. Thankfully tree surgeons cut down the dead tree and removed the tree out of the river.

"We rely on the Environment Agency for their help in situations like this.

"We’re aware that they have to take many factors into account: personal safety, flora and fauna, weather conditions, finance, etc. But at the end of the day, we do not want our homes flooding again.

"So the flood action group would like to thank the Environment Agency for bringing this problem to a satisfactory conclusion."

The action group says the EA turned out to examine the scene when the top half of the poplar crashed down, damaging fencing and a greenhouse and landing within feet of the foot bridge.

Dave Massam of the flood action group explained: “The four telemetry sensors on the foot bridge register when the water is at a certain level and send messages up to the flood gates to begin the automatic process of closing to restrict the flow.

"If they are damaged by a falling tree then the gates will remain open and we could have a major flood. So that's why we were getting concerned."

Kath Almond added: "It was leaning towards a house where a 96-year-old man lives and another house behind it. If it came down on those then it doesn't bear thinking about what could happen.

"But if it fell the other way, onto the bridge, it could have destroyed four sensors. That could affect the whole village with the storm season not far off.

"The last thing we want is to see Croston under water again after the damage the floods caused in 2015."

An Environment Agency spokesperson said last week that as soon as the concerns were raised with them they alerted their operations team.

"As the tree was too large to be removed by our local team, we arranged for external contactors to remove the obstruction.

"If any part of the Croston Flood Risk Management Scheme was damaged, it would be a priority for us to repair.”