NETWORK Rail's plans to prune trees alongside a rail line are "disproportionate" according to Bradford Council.

The body had submitted an application to prune trees between the Sainsburys on Bradford Road, Menston, and the rail line behind it.

The work would have seen all trees along the track pruned back to create a 6.5m clearance from the outer running rail.

But that application has been refused by Bradford Council, who said the plans would be harmful to the woodland area.

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Officers said: "The proposed work fails to comply with good arboricultural practice, would be harmful to the woodland edge and various individual trees. The work as proposed would therefore harm the character and appearance of the protected woodland and hence to amenity.

"There is a lack of evidence demonstrating that the proposals are proportionate. For instance there is no assessment of the risk from the trees nor any evidence why mature trees should be lopped back to an arbitrary dimension irrespective of the tree, the species or current condition.

"The council notes that numbers of trees have already been poorly lopped along the railway line in a manner that already fails in terms of good  arboricultural practice." 

Officers have allowed Network Rail to remove any trees less than 200mm DBH (diameter from breast height) from alongside the rail line.