On Thursday 30th May it was discovered that two huge sycamore trees on the East Lancs Road near Lyon Grove in Worsley, which have stood in Salford for 50 years, have been vandalised.

This was a targetted attack on these trees because the vandals gouged a one metre ring around each tree right down to the bare wood, which is a practice known as girdling. It means the entire tree will now die as it cannot draw up water and food because of the breach in the bark. The trees will now be chopped down completely as they cannot survive this vandalism.

Salford City Council is appealing for witnesses and information about the attack and Barbara is urging anyone who may know who did this, or who saw this vandalism taking place, to come forward and tell the authorities.

Councillor David Lancaster, Lead Member for Environment and Community Safety, said:

It looks as if a chainsaw was used and it would have taken 15 to 20 minutes of work to do this. Whoever is responsible has deliberately set out to kill these two magnificent trees – this is not just a random bit of vandalism.

This has happened right beside the A580, one of the busiest roads in Salford, so we are hoping someone has seen those responsible in the act and maybe even caught them on dashcam.  If they will come forward and give us the evidence we will do all we can to prosecute those responsible for criminal damage.

It takes at least 50 years to grow a tree of this size and stature and the council will now have to waste scarce public money removing these trees because as they die they could become dangerous.

When we remove dead, dying or damaged trees we replace every one with two more trees and we will do so for these two trees but four new young trees cannot compensate for the loss of these magnificent specimens.”

Barbara says:

“I am saddened by this deliberate attack on these two sycamore trees which have stood for over 50 years in Worsley. This senseless act was targetted to kill the entire tree and both of these trees will now have to be cut down.

Those responsible for this vandalism would face criminal charges and I urge anyone who may have information which may be helpful in catching those who carried out this attack to contact Crimestoppers or Salford City Council.”

Anyone with information can contact:

Please use the trees category and quote reference FLARE G79140.

Please quote Salford City Council and FLARE G79140.

Close-up image of the vandalism
Close-up image of the vandalism
Close-up image of the vandalism
Close-up image of the vandalism
The two sycamore trees which have been deliberately vandalised near Lyon Grove
The two sycamore trees which have been deliberately vandalised near Lyon Grove
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