RESIDENTS have raised concerns about tree-felling at the site of a former special school on greenbelt land in Shipley.

Trees at Heaton Royds Special School, in Redburn Drive, were cut down by Keighley-based Inter City Money Limited, which bought the site in 2015.

No tree preservation order (TPO) , to protect specific trees or a particular area, group or woodland from damage and destruction, had been made by Bradford Council.

Residents living nearby say that since the school closed in 2010, the site has become a haven for wildlife including roe deer, foxes, owls, bats and birds.

The site was sold to Inter City Money Limited for £461,000 at auction in September 2015.

A spokesman for the company, which has yet to submit a planning application to the Council, said it had checked that none of the trees had a TPO before felling them.

He said: “There are no restrictions on what could be cut down.

“We would not have taken them down if there was an order in place. What we did was all above board.”

A Bradford Council spokesman said: “There is no tree preservation order in place at the site but officers have gone out to assess the situation.”

Tony Woods, 60, who lives near the site, has called on the Council to impose a TPO on the remaining trees.

He said: “The issue here is that the Council now need to protect the remaining trees.

“We want the Council to take action now before any more trees go under the chainsaw.

“It is an environmentally sensitive area. It is part of the green corridor in Shipley and Heaton.

“I understand that some development on the site is not going to protect every tree on the site.

“I’m not against appropriate development for the site. The building was very damaged from when the school closed.

“We need to protect the trees that are left.”

Councillor Mohammed Amran (Lab, Heaton) said he had contacted the Council.

He said: “It is disappointing that the trees have been taken down.”

The school was closed in March 2010 when Bradford Council deemed it unsuitable for the needs of its pupils, many of whom had mobility problems.

In 2013 the Government’s Education Funding Agency gave permission for the authority to dispose of the site, as they had no plans to open a new school there.