‘Dangerous’ tree threatens home of 96-year-old and heightens flood risk in Croston claim villagers

And members of an action group in Croston are also worried that if it falls it could cause serious damage to vital equipment which protects their village from flooding.

The volunteers say the top half of the giant black poplar came crashing down just weeks ago, narrowly missing the house but damaging a greenhouse, fencing and blocking a foot bridge over the River Yarrow.

They say a team from the Environment Agency turned out to examine the damage and move the fallen branches. But since then they claim nothing has been done with what remains of the tree apart from a bat survey.

"The tree appears to be rotten and looks dangerous to me," said parish councillor Kath Almond, chair of the Lower Yarrow Flood Action Group. "Yet all they seem bothered about is protecting bats.

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

"But if it falls the other way, onto the bridge, it could destroy four sensors which control the flood gates upstream. 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."

More than £7m was spent on building flood gates further up the Yarrow to restrict water flow during prolonged wet periods. After three major floods in the past 35 years villagers are only just beginning to feel safe.

Two smaller trees next to the black poplar have also come crashing down in recent weeks, landing across the river and causing an obstruction for the flow of water.

"They have formed a bit of a dam in the river because they are both right across it from bank to bank," said Dave Massam who is also a member of the flood action group. "If we get a lot of water coming down then they could be a problem.

"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 are getting concerned.

"All we've seen here recently is a woman with a computer doing a bat survey, but that big tree is still there with one branch hanging over the old man's house like the sword of Damocles."

An Environment Agency spokesperson said: "A fallen tree causing a blockage on the River Yarrow in Croston at Castle Walk bridge was reported to us on 9 September and was immediately passed to the Environment Agency’s Operations Team to investigate.

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

"If any part of the Croston Flood Risk Management Scheme was damaged, it would be a priority for us to repair; the river level monitoring at Castle Bridge is currently fully functional.”