Sandbanks property developers 'killed protected trees' which blocked housing development - Telegraph

Sandbanks property developers 'killed protected trees' which blocked housing development - Telegraph

Alistair Collier and Harvey Lee paid £4.5 million for the plot of land on the exclusive seaside resort of Sandbanks, Dorset, expecting to more than double their money by building three luxury houses on the site.

But when they were told they could not build on top of the roots of the mature trees they arranged for them to be ring-barked to free the land for development, it is alleged.

The 70ft trees each had more than a foot of bark stripped away from the trunk, which had the effect of killing them slowly like cut flowers in a vase of water, the court heard.

Magistrates heard the value of three detached dwellings on the prime seafront plot would have been a combined total of £11.2 million.

Mr Collier, 41, and Mr Lee, 66, who own Barrington Homes, are charged with ten offences of damaging and destroying the trees.