ANOTHER seven trees will be chopped down in Bournemouth gardens but will be replaced with more new plants.

It comes after a felled tree was spotted in the gardens earlier this week, and now BCP Council says further works will be taking place.

Strong winds have battered the area in recent weeks and the trees are being described as "dead, dying or dangerous".

Cllr Andy Hadley, portfolio holder for climate response, environment and energy, said: "Works to remove seven trees and to trim back hedging is being completed in Bournemouth Gardens this week by our tree removal contractor. The parks team will be planting 14 trees to replace those removed.

“All the trees are either dead, dying, or dangerous and are being removed for safety reasons. One of these trees, a Larch, is also being removed to facilitate a new parallel crossing on Prince of Wales Road.

“The hedges are also being cut back to enable improvements to be made to the existing path through the gardens.”

The decision to fell the initial tree, near the Cenotaph war memorial, was taken on Friday, November 10.

A BCP Council spokesperson said: “The decision to fell a pine tree in Bournemouth Lower Gardens, which had heaved in recent high winds and had become unsafe, was taken on Friday.

“The pine had suffered root plate failure and had brought up a large section of tarmac.

“The tree was unsafe to climb, there was no room for a crane and the wet ground made the area dangerous for large machinery. This left directly felling the tree as the only safe option.

“Our parks team removed bins and benches for our arboricultural contractor to do this. The area was closed to pedestrians while the operations took place.”