Local residents have been expressing their concerns since plans were announced to fell a considerable amount of trees in a local park.

A plan for flood alleviation has revealed that a number of trees in Memorial Park, Thatcham, will be cut down.

Chrissie Budge posted several photographs of the beloved trees on social media to express her sadness at them being felled.

Along with the pictures, she wrote the following:

“Say goodbye to all these beautiful trees over the memorial park, so sad.”

Many took to the comment section of the post to echo her sentiment at the number of trees being lost in the local park.

One person said “Surely planting more trees helps with ground water? Has anyone got a link for plans and how they are going to leave the park looking once they are done?”

In response to the previous comment, Chrissie Budge said “There is a picture on notice board and u can also look on Thatcham Town Council. The dog park will be lost and cut through shut while work in progress.”

Another person said “Thought this ground was donated for the recreation purposes only.”

When people asked when the trees were being felled, Chrissie Budge responded “I think trees are being felled shortly they have blue spray paint on them. I really thought would keep the oak tree.”

One person said “I thought we needed to plant trees not dig them up.”

In response to the previous comment, another person said “exactly! Thought that was an election pledge a few years ago - to plant millions of trees. Only thing I've seen them plant are new houses.”

However, some members of the community were quick to come with counter points to the tree-felling situation.

One person said “Unfortunately this is a logical move as the new build is also on a muddy field which cannot drain the surface water now.

“So, if there is a future storm like the one that flooded nearby parts of Thatcham, these new flood defenses will allow a more controlled flow of any deluge being fed from Cold Ash and Bucklebury.

“Perhaps the landscaping after construction will still provide pleasant walks and seating like at present. Ask the council at their nearby offices or online.”

In agreement with the previous commenter, another person wrote “Sad, but don’t take this as read. I’d first check the Council website.

“I don’t think all the trees are being cut down, plus there are plans for lots of new trees and wildflower planting and a proper footpath around the perimeter.

“By the way I don’t work for the council, I just took the trouble to look at the online planning application.”

A spokesperson for West Berkshire Council has said the following:

"Removing some trees from the Memorial Field is an unfortunate necessity of flood alleviation works. We would never choose to lose trees, but the works will remove 73 properties from surface water flood risk while reducing the risk of surface water flooding to over an additional 100 properties. Therefore, we had to make this difficult choice.

"In order to protect these homes, forty Category B trees will be removed (Category B: Trees of moderate quality with an estimated remaining life expectancy of at least 20 years) and replacement trees will be planted within the scheme and within other previously constructed flood alleviation schemes."