THE felling of an ancient oak tree close to the site of the proposed Pedlarspool development caused alarm amongst campaigners against the proposed development last Friday.

The campaigners said they believed the whole avenue of around a dozen trees might be "for the chop" and decided to call in Mid Devon District Council officers.

Mid Devon's planning officer Delwyn Matthews went to the site.

Afterwards a Mid Devon District Council spokesperson told the Courier: "The tree wasn't protected because we were waiting for a report from our tree expert.

"We were under the impression that the tree was ok.

"One tree had been felled when our officer arrived.

"We took out an urgent Tree Preservation Order to preserve the rest of the trees.

"The District Council now has the temporary Order in place.

"The District Council acted as soon as it could but it was unfortunate that one tree was felled."

The landowner, Stuart Turner, said he did not want to comment on the felling of the tree when approached by the Courier.

Pedlarspool is currently listed in Mid Devon District Council's Local Development Framework as a contingency site for development including housing and industrial use.