A ROSSENDALE councillor has blasted environmentalists after a number of trees were removed.

Coun Michael McShea launched the attack on the Environment Agency after mature trees were chopped down along the River Irwell in Stacksteads.

Coun McShea, who is chairman of Rossendale Rivers Initiative, has made an official complaint about the agency, which carried out the work.

He is now calling for compensation to help replace trees in the area, which is part of the work being carried out by Stacksteads Riverside Park Group. The group has carried out extensive improvements to the river, from Shade End to Blackwood Road, since June 2001.

The group's work includes 30 hanging baskets on the lamp posts in Newchurch Road and planting at the millennium stone and at sites along the main road.

Coun McShea said: "The Riverside Park Group has spent thousands of pounds planting new trees and tiding up the area.

"I couldn't believe it when I saw what had been done. There is no justification for it whatsoever. The trees are part of the landscape and have been along the river for 30 to 40 years."

Three mature ash, sycamore and hawthorn trees were axed, along with a number of smaller oak trees.

It is thought the reason behind it was because they were impeding the flow of the river.

A spokesman for the Environment Agency said it did cut down some trees at the site, as part of essential river maintenance work.

She said: "When trees or their branches are in danger of falling into the river, blockages can be caused, and sometimes trees therefore have to be felled or thinned out as a preventative measure."

But Coun McShea argued: "It has not been a problem for all these years so why should they need to do it now?"

He added that there are more pressing issues which need to be dealt with, including repairing the river walls, the banking and removing the Japanese knotweed.