BBC North West Tonight, Evening News, June 3rd 2026
Almost 7,000 people have signed a petition to prevent 18 lime trees near Preston from being cut down to make way for flood defences known as the Royal Limes after being planted to commemorate the coronation of King George V, the second time we’ve mentioned him on the program.
South Ribble Borough Council had given permission to fell the trees in Walton le Dale, but a campaign group has applied for a judicial review because they want to try to save them, as Phil McCann reports.
21 trees that mean a lot to Walton le Dale
The children here at St. Patrick’s Primary have joined with some local campaigners who were in school before the days that hymns were put on PowerPoint to raise awareness about the planned fate of the trees down the road.
Liz Hindley – Headteacher, St Patrick’s Roman Catholic Primary School
We thought we have to do something to at least raise the profile of the issue to see whether there’s something that can be changed.
18 of these trees are due to be chopped down to make way for a new Environment Agency flood barrier, the latest step in a scheme to prevent future flooding from the river Ribble.
Campaigners though say history books show the trees were planted in 1912 to mark the coronation of King George V. Everybody thinks they’re royal trees.
Ash Preston – Local Historian
Until the M6 was built, this was the only way to travel north and south. So over the years, literally millions of people would have seen these trees.
Graham Dixon – Campaigner
You pass these trees and and it’s just nice to see them.
But the Environment Agency says its own research into the trees history has been inconclusive. Now though, nearly 7,000 people have signed a petition to save them.
Now, these trees are actually on a pretty narrow bank between the river and the road. And the Environment Agency says that building this barrier closer to the river to avoid the trees would be damaging to the river. And building it closer to the road would be difficult because of all the pipes and cables that run underneath this ground. And they say that either of those two options that avoid the trees would be too expensive.
David Marginson – Retired civil engineer
It’s not that expensive really and also they they complained that the trees are damaging the cables. Well, the trees were there far before the cables.
Planning permission was granted in February and workers are currently on site analysing the ground. So now campaigners are looking at legal action, applying for leave to bring a judicial review into the planning process.
Guy Shackleton – Campaigner
We believe that actually not all the relevant information was provided to the planning officers and the planning committee. The agency says its priority is protecting hundreds of homes from flooding and felling trees is always a last resort.
Report by Phil McCann, BBC Northwest tonight, in Walton le Dale.
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