Part of Victoria Park pathway cordoned off

Newbury Town Council has cordoned off part of the pathway in the park owing to concerns over a diseased tree

PART of the pathway in Victoria Park, Newbury, has been cordoned off owing to concerns over a diseased tree.

Newbury Town Council has cordoned off part of the path by the Kennet and Avon Canal for health and safety reasons while it awaits a date for a large horse chestnut tree to be felled.

The cordon, which has been put around the tree covering part of the path and the park itself, is set to remain in place until the tree is felled, which the town council's services manager, Granville Taylor, said would be done “as soon as practicably possible.”

Mr Taylor said the tree was already on the work programme to be felled, but he said a recent investigation of the tree showed the tree was in a worse condition than was first thought and that it needed to be taken down sooner.

He added that once the tree was brought down, it would be replaced by a different, “hardier” species of tree.

Meanwhile, Mr Taylor added that the town council was also putting in a further cordon by the canal to channel walkers away from the waters edge, owing to concerns over the proximity of the water to where people were being forced to walk.

He said: “We have got to try and do something to clearly identify there is a risk there.”

No date has yet been confirmed for the felling of the tree.