A NUMBER of protected trees at a five-star Newport hotel and resort could be cut down, new plans show.

An application has been made to cut down as many as 11 trees covered by Tree Preservation Orders (TPO) at the Celtic Manor Resort, located off The Coldra.

If approved, a variety of works will be carried out here, including felling and other remedial works.

According to the application - submitted to Newport City Council by Broadway Tree Consultancy on behalf of The Celtic Manor Collection - the recent spell of poor weather has led to the work being needed.

Supporting the application, the agent wrote that the tree felling scheme can be described as “health and safety works to trees following the recent storms”.

Certainly, elsewhere in Newport, Storms Eunice and Franklin did damage, with a number of trees across Newport and the wider Gwent area falling to the heavy winds, with caused a red weather warning from the Met Office at one stage.

What work is being proposed?

According to supporting documents with the application, two ash trees, four goat willow trees, four silver birch trees, and an alder tree would be felled, while dead wood which hangs over a public footpath would also be removed from another ash tree.

Elsewhere, ivy would be removed from another tree.

The report states that most of this work would be carried out within 12 months of permission being granted.

However, one tree has already uprooted and fallen, and a second has partially uprooted, and it is requested that these are removed within three months of permission being approved.

One other tree is understood to be displaying ash dieback symptoms – the deadly tree virus which has seen trees felled elsewhere in the city.

Meanwhile, the remainder of the trees are described as being in either fair or poor physiological condition, with the majority located beside a footpath on land owned by the Celtic Manor group.

Everything you need to know about the application, including how to comment, can be found here.