A FURIOUS councillor has slammed a school for carrying out “a barbaric act of vandalism” in its own grounds.

The Daily Echo revealed on Saturday how several trees, including five mature oaks, had been felled at Oakmead College of Technology in Duck Lane, Bournemouth.

Following the revelation, Bournemouth council served a temporary Tree Preservation Order (TPO) on the school to prevent further damage.

But it has now emerged that later work to level the site is likely to have severely damaged the remaining trees which form part of a line of trees near the school building, next to ongoing work on a school extension and volleyball court.

Planning board vice-chairman Cllr Ron Whittaker, who has now been told that the levelling of the land is likely to be in breach of the TPO, said he was “totally aghast and sickened by what the college has done”.

He added: “They have continued to carry out such wilful vandalism to now protected TPO oaks. This school has made a total mockery of teaching anything about ecology issues to its pupils.”

Cllr Whittaker, a former Oakmead pupil, said: “We are approaching the nesting season and these trees have provided a valuable wildlife habitat. I feel sick at how this college has acted.”

He suggested that the council should consider taking legal action against the school, for breaching the TPO.

Gill Blanshard, Head of College, said: “Officers from Bournemouth inspected the site before granting us planning permission, and at no time raised the issue of the trees. If they had, we wouldn’t have touched them.

“Notwithstanding this, we still ordered a thorough and detailed tree condition report covering our whole campus, carried out by experts.

“We did take advice before the trees were felled, and were told they didn’t have preservation orders.”