A RARE species of tree will be planted in Kingsmead with help from Chester Zoo.

Kingsmead Parish Council hopes to replace poplar trees near London Road which had to be removed for safety reasons.

Clr Laura Hoey, council chairman, said: “Through a Cheshire Wildlife Trust contact I asked if he could help us find trees suitable for wet, boggy ground.

“He has a contact at Chester Zoo which has black poplars, which are rare but native.”

The zoo is working on a conservation project with the trees, which suit the soggy site that made the trunks of the former poplars spongy and unsafe.

Clr Tim Moore said: “The ground is so boggy that nothing else will do.”