A historic tree in Saundersfoot that the community wants to save from being chopped down will be visited by planning committee members asap so that a decision can be made on its future.

Meeting today (Wednesday, April 21) Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority development management committee agreed with an officer recommendation to hold a site visit to Scar Rock opposite Beach Court as soon as possible.

A decision on an application to fell the Monterey Cypress tree on the seafront site will then be decided after members have seen it for themselves.

It has been described as an “attractive and much loved feature of the village for over eighty years,” by Saundersfoot and District Historical Society and there is also a Facebook group campaigning for it to be retained.

In response to the application the society has stated: “The reasons cited are for public safety but the History Society, and indeed the Friends of Saundersfoot and District, feel strongly that a rigorous evidence-based assessment be made before such an important feature of the Saundersfoot landscape is lost for ever.”

A report that came before today’s Pembrokeshire Coast National Park development management committee meeting stated: “the application has generated a significant level of public interest, as such, it is requested that members consider a committee site visit to view the tree, the site and its surroundings prior to consideration of the planning application.”

A previous application to fell the tree was refused by the National Park committee in May 2017.