A DORCHESTER couple were left stunned by the sudden removal of trees screening their view of the town’s controversial new medical centre.

Neil Harris, who lives opposite the centre in Weymouth Avenue with his wife Penelope, has already complained about the impact of glare of the blue electric lights that illuminate the modern building.

He was left exasperated though when, he claims that, without warning, workers from Dorset County Council began felling two lime trees outside his home Mr Harris said: “They cut down two of the trees that shielded our view of the health centre from our house with no notice and no warning.

“It seems an awful pity to destroy these wonderful trees and this is just a further deterioration of the local environment in Weymouth Avenue.”

Mr Harris added: “We knew the health centre was going to be built but we didn’t know it was going to be illuminated with blue lights and we didn’t know we were going to lose the two trees that shield our view.

“It’s not just us living immediately by it, it’s the whole vista of Weymouth Avenue that is going to be affected.”

Mr Harris said he contacted the council and was told that the trees outside his home and two further up Weymouth Avenue were being removed because of legitimate safety concerns. However, he is concerned that the replacement trees could take years to grow back and in the mean time he will have to face the full glare of the medical centre.

Mr Harris said he also felt aggrieved at the lack of notice he had been given about the tree-felling works. A Dorset County Council spokesman said Dorset Works Organisation, which carries out highway maintenance on behalf of the authority, had felled four trees in Weymouth Avenue ‘for various safety reasons’.

He said the roots on one tree outside the Harris’s home were ‘undermining the paving slabs’ and the tree was leaning into the road, while another tree opposite the health centre was rotten.

Replacement trees for both will be planted in appropriate locations.

The spokesman added: “Public notices were placed on all of the trees in question outlining the reasons for the work.

“However, some residents have informed us they did not see the notices and, unfortunately, some may have been removed or lost.”