Saint Marys Church. Eccles
- The Tree Felling at St Mary’s: What Was Lost and Who Gained
In April 2025, a number of mature trees were felled at St Mary’s Churchyard in Eccles — trees which, by visual inspection and ring count, appeared to be over 90 years old and in good health.
To understand what happened, a Freedom of Information (FOI) request was submitted to Salford City Council.
🔍 What the FOI Response Revealed:
The trees were assessed by an unnamed “qualified council officer” within the Council’s Arboricultural Services team.
No tree condition report or formal inspection record exists.
The Council paid TreeStation (Making Wood Work) £3,600 to carry out the felling.
All timber was taken by TreeStation and described simply as “recycled as biomass.”
No public consultation was carried out.
No record exists of what happened to the timber once it left the site.
⚠️ The Problem: Conflict of Interest
The director of TreeStation, Phil Benn, is also a qualified arborist. According to Companies House, his profession is listed as “Self-employed Arborist.” TreeStation’s own website confirms he is the Managing Director.
This raises serious questions:
Was the same person or team responsible for assessing the trees, authorising their removal, and personally profiting from the timber?
Were public trees effectively converted into private commercial gain — with no oversight, no valuation, and no record of public benefit?
🪓 The Timber Trail
Photographic evidence shows large, high-quality timber was removed from the site. Additional photos taken at TreeStation’s Gorton yard (Vaughan Street) show similar logs, stacked and awaiting processing.
TreeStation runs a commercial timber operation from this site — including firewood, sawn wood, fencing materials, and woodchip products.
Without a tracking log or receipt trail, there is no way to know if timber from St Mary’s Churchyard — a public and possibly covenant-protected site — ended up in TreeStation’s commercial supply.
📌 Why It Matters
The public paid £3,600 for the felling — and got nothing in return.
Timber of potential commercial value disappeared.
A qualified arborist may have been both the assessor and beneficiary.
No independent oversight, no tree health documentation, and no attempt to recover value for the community.
