THURROCK Council has pledged to replace a huge tree it has removed from the centre of a borough cemetery.

The council recently mounted an operation to remove the 150-year-old cedar tree in Grays New Cemetery, reporting that it had died.

A council spokesman said: "The Cedar tree was dead and the decision was taken to safely fell it as it was becoming brittle and was at risk of falling. The tree was felled by expert climbers and done in such a way as to ensure that all nearby monuments were protected.

"A new cedar tree will be planted to replace this tree as part of Thurrock Council's tree replacement policy."

Richard Longstaff from the tree conservation group Once-Upon-a-Tree, said: "Cedar trees live for hundreds of years, this doesn't mean to say that this tree tree died suddenly. More often it is that a diseased tree starts to become a risk due to the greater potential for it to fall in high winds, which then becomes a public liability.

"However in my opinion, a tree's decline can be managed, but more often we see this is not the case and an expedient decision is made simply because it is easier to execute than to manage the tree's decline over a number of years and take necessary precautionary action in lopping off those boughs that are a risk. "