KINGSMEAD is being transformed through a mission to tidy up trees.

The parish council has embarked on a programme of work on trees throughout the village, which is already having a significant impact.

Speaking at the latest meeting Clr Chris Reed said: “We’ve been complemented about the work around the pond in Moor Park Way.

“And you would never recognise it from the Fisherman’s Car Park up.

“There are some nice speciman trees there that look good.

“In the middle there was an old lock-keeper’s cottage – the foundations are still there, covered in brambles, and it seems to be a nice little den for people drinking and smoking.”

He said this area was being cleared and tidied.

Poplar trees near Kingsmead’s boundary by London Road, near Sir John Deane’s College, have also been taken down after one fell in the strong winds revealing a trunk of spongy wood.

As well as pruning and removing trees, Kingsmead Parish Council is also planting new trees.

Clr Laura Howey, council chairman, said there were plans to replace trees in the park at Kensington Way, on a grassed area in Moor Park Way, around the pond in Dukes Way and off Monarch Drive.

She said: “It’s filling the gaps really – we’re cutting trees down, we should really replace them where they’ve died off.”