'Car crash' failures around felling of historic palm trees in Devon, report finds

"Car crash failures" led to the felling of 40 palm trees at a historic seafront garden in Devon, a report has found.

The report concluded that issues with "control and communication" led to a "debacle" around the felling of the trees on Torquay seafront.

There was a national outcry when the palm trees were cut down in December last year.

The palms stood in the Italian gardens, which look out over Torre Abbey Sands, and had been a popular feature since they were first planted in 1924.

The gardens are one of the reasons the area is known as the English Riviera.

At the time, Torbay Council said they “showed significant signs of decline" and council contractors were restoring the gardens ahead of its 100th anniversary.

Torbay Council previously held a consultation on the plans to cut the trees down in 2019, but Covid meant the plans were delayed.

The report found the trees were cut down with little or no consultation, and without council officers being made aware it was going to happen.

“It was a disaster,” said Torbay Council’s independent group leader Darren Cowell (Shiphay).

“We managed to make what should have been a positive story into a car crash,” he added.

Members of the council’s overview and scrutiny committee have examined a detailed report into how the trees came to be suddenly felled.

Councillors have now voted to introduce a package of measures designed to make sure nothing like it ever happens again.

The trees were felled by the council’s own parks and gardens company SWISCo. The project has now been completed and the new gardens have been well-received, but the council and SWISCo are still feeling the effects of the incident.

Mr Denby said a “failure of control” by officers had led to the felling of the trees.

“It is impossible to conclude that it was anything other than a system failure from an officer perspective," he added.

“It is clear that the process was not what it should have been, and it has damaged confidence in officers. We have let ourselves down.”

The committee heard about a 200-page email trail at the heart of Mr Denby’s investigation, but they decided not to bring it to the meeting, which would have meant excluding the press and public to avoid identifying the individuals involved.

“What happened was awful,” said Cllr Martin Brook (Con, Collaton St Mary). “It puts the council in a bad light and undermines the confidence for residents. There was a stirring up of anger.”

SWISCo managing director Matt Reeks told the meeting the trees had been in a poor condition and were cut down after careful consideration.

Cllr Yvonne Twelves (Con, Kings Ash) said the council had to move on from the incident.

“Finger-pointing and blame culture are not helpful,” she said. “We have to park that, learn the lessons and move forward. Our residents want to know that it is not going to happen again.”

Cllr Adam Billings (Con, Churston with Galmpton), cabinet member for pride in place, said: “It wasn’t a case of ‘who dropped the ball’ but that we all dropped the ball. This is a systems failure."

"But at the same time, they have delivered a fantastic garden,” he added. “It looks lovely. We should thank them for that while we recognise that the process wasn’t brilliant.”

Credit: Guy Henderson / LDRS