Campaigners who are trying to save a 90-year-old oak tree from being felled have scheduled a public meeting this evening to discuss the matter.
Plans to fell the iconic tree to build a cycle path have met fierce resistance from locals in Letterkenny.
Donegal County Council has insisted that the planned felling will go ahead as part of the N56 Urban Active Travel Project works, with the expanded footpath and cycle path in place between the Polestar and Creamery roundabouts.
In response to campaigners, the Council said in a statement that “…statutory consent through the Part VIII planning process was received for this project in 2020. Full public consultation was carried out as part of this process. No submission was received in respect to the oak tree in question or other trees within the works area.”
However that response, and plans by the Council to repurpose parts of the tree’s trunk and plant its acorns in the local area have been met poorly by extremely frustrated local people and environmental campaigners.
An Taisce’s Local Donegal Association has met with the Council and called on them to amend the cycle path to go around the tree due to its environmental impact and its culutral heritage. That appeal also fell on deaf ears with Council planners.
Now, groups of local campaigners have planned a public meeting this evening calling to save the tree.
The meeting will take place at 5:45pm, at the oak tree itself in Ballyraine.
An online petition set up by organisers has also reached nearly 200 signatures.
You can view that petition here: https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-removal-of-the-historic-sessile-oak-tree-in-ballyraine
