Colchester councillor offers £100 reward to catch vandals

Two of the five trees recently planted on green space off Queen Elizabeth Way, Colchester, were ripped in half and left littering the ground.

Berechurch ward councillor Dave Harris made the discovery at around 11am on Wednesday.

"I am appalled and disgusted by this," he said. "They were very new and had only been planted a few months ago.

"It took us a long time of campaigning and pushing to get them planted here.

"The council hasn't got a huge amount of money and it was a big thing for us to get them put in place.

"People who live around here were caring for them, watering them, they were going to look absolutely lovely.

"They seem to have just been ripped up with brute force.

"The several beer bottles I found lying around suggests to me that the culprits aren't all that young."

The blossom trees were planted in March by the community as part of Colchester Council's Woodland Project, which aims to plant 200,000 trees in the borough over the next five years.

So far the project, which was launched last year, has seen 13,510 trees planted.

It is hoped the project will help to offset the release of 32,000 tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere throughout the lifetime of the trees.

Martin Goss, Colchester councillor responsible for environment, said this central goal made the actions of vandals even more difficult to understand.

He said: "It’s hard to understand why anyone would take satisfaction from destroying trees.

"Especially when having quality green space to enjoy makes such a huge difference to everyone and because we know just how important trees are in helping to combat climate change.

“I would urge anyone who has any information that would help catch those responsible to report it to the police on 101."

Mr Harris is offering a £100 reward for information which leads to the identification of those responsible.

He can be reached via email at councillor.dave.harris@hotmail.co.uk.