Hundreds of tree deaths under investigation

The death of hundreds of newly planted trees on Hove seafront is being investigated by Brighton and Hove City Council.

A planning application to plant replacement trees could be in the pipeline once the local authority has worked out how to prevent a repeat of so many trees dying, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The incident may even lead to enforcement action – although the council was the applicant in the first instance, it added.

The authority's head of planning, Nicola Hurley, said that she could not comment further in case of any legal action.

The trees were planted as part of the council's £13.7m Hove Beach Park revamp of the seafront from the King Alfred swimming pool and leisure centre to Hove Lagoon.

Green councillor Sue Shanks asked at a council meeting why no new trees had been planted after nearly all of the original ones had died.

"We always say if something dies within a certain amount of time it has to be replanted and that hasn't happened there," she said.

Head of planning Hurley said that the local authority would look at what went wrong, and a new application would seek to address the findings.

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