Devon town up in arms over loss of mature sycamore tree

• Watch Jacquie Bird's report

Furious residents in Ashburton have demanded someone is held accountable for the chopping down of a mature sycamore tree on the edge of a new business park.

Mystery still surrounds the removal of the tree, which was supposed to be retained on the site.

Dartmoor National Park Authority, which is responsible for planning in the area said it was investigating what had happened.

Describing the moment the tree was taken down, resident Graham Walden said he'd seen that branches had been stripped from the tree.

He told ITV West Country: "I thought 'hello, this is looking a bit ominous', so I came back down and I actually saw it come down."

Another neighbour, Amanda Hamblin said her daughter had been in tears watching the removal of the tree as she had grown up watching it.

She added: "It's really important for the community for wildlife and everything else. It's just really sad really."

In a statement, Dartmoor National Park Authority said: "The importance of retaining this mature tree was recognised in recent planning decisions for this site through the Authority’s approval and conditioning of a Tree Protection Plan and Arboricultural Method Statement.

The Tree Protection Plan identifies those trees to be retained and what tree protection measures are required during development of the site.

In this case, the tree that has been felled was the focus of a range of measures, including protective fencing, a ‘construction exclusion zone’ and a ‘special protection area’.

The authority did not provide authorisation for this tree to be taken down and has launched an investigation to identify why it happened.

Dolbeare Business Park is being developed as a number of commercial units and will include a drive-thru and electric car charging points.

ITV News West Country has attempted to contact the developers of the site but has had no response.