A ROMSEY man claims that felling trees alongside a railway line near his home could harm a wildlife habitat.

Denzil Matthews, from Feltham Close, is particularly upset by the removal of a mature oak last Friday. He claims this was unnecessary and was an act of vandalism.

“I arrived home to find a mature oak that already had been pruned back for the fence had been felled. Why? They cannot say this is not vandalism.

“Of course it could be that these trees have a commercial value and if so who benefits?” said mr Matthews, who says any profit made from the cut timber should be pumped into providing more habitat for the wildlife that has been dislodged by the removal of the trees.

Network Rail contractors are currently putting up a new safety fence to stop people getting onto the Romsey to Eastleigh railway line.

Mr Matthews says egrets, owls and tree creepers and foxes live in the woodland near the railway track. “It would be a disaster to see them disappear,” he commented.

He contacted Test Valley’s Romsey Tadburn ward councillor, Mark Cooper, about the felling work and asked him to investigate.

Mr Cooper, who contacted the borough’s tree officers about the felling work, said he discovered that Network Rail had a way-leave giving them the right to fell a tree if it was deemed dangerous or obstructive.

He added that the fencing contractor has made a “real mess” of the footpath and borough council officers would make sure any damage to authority-owned property would be rectified by the contractor.

A resident from Hestia Close is also angry with contractors.

The woman, who did not wish to be named, said the footpath in the Hestia Close and Jenner Way had been made “completely impassable”.

“There’s mud and other debris and flooding. 0The footpath has been destroyed where they have been using dumper trucks on it.”

She also queried whether there was a need for the contractors to have accessed borough council-owned land to carry out some of the work.