Kilkenny County Council today removed four trees located in the Peace Park adjacent to the old swimming pool.

The trees had been earmarked for removal to facilitate the construction of the new bridge. It is not the case that the trees were taken down because of storm damage. This is incidental and is immaterial to the removal of the trees.

The trees were originally scheduled to be removed last week but this did not take place because of poor weather and a big demand on the services of professional tree surgeons on foot of storm Darwin.

It is also the case that the Council planned to remove the trees in advance of the bird nesting season that commences on March 1st.

The felling of four trees is a lawful and approved action and was sanctioned once statutory planning approval was received in respect of the KCAS in December 2011. The Environmental Impact Statement for the KCAS deals fully with the removal of the trees and the mitigation measures that must be put in place.

New semi mature trees by way of compensatory planting are to be provided in the vicinity.

In addition the works to be carried out under the riverside garden project will further mitigate the loss of the trees and enhance significantly the peace park area and the riverside landscape on the bank opposite at Diageo.