WORK last week has left a 250-metre stretch of the bank of the River Tone in Taunton bare of trees.

Trees were removed by the Environment Agency as part of flood management measures in the area.

The semi-wild section of river running through Taunton was a favourite spot for anglers and famous for its wildlife, particularly kingfishers.

Now local anglers are "heartbroken" over the destruction of the area.

Dominic Garnett, 42, an angling guide and coach, has fished the stretch of the river for the past 20 years and has been visiting it since childhood.

“It was a semi-wild stretch of river and they have channelised it.

“It is absolutely heartbreaking to see the destruction of the places you love – you go there to be with nature and to get away and it’s all just been ripped away. We are just smashing it all up.”

Somerset County Gazette: Undated handout photo issued by Dominic Garnett of the River Tone in Somerset after it was stripped of trees by the Environment Agency as part of flood management measures. The semi-wild section of river running through Taunton was a favourite spot for

The length of the river ran through marshland until the 1990s, when the surrounding land was tarmacked to make way for a leisure and shopping complex and for housing.

Woodland planting is often touted as a key flood mitigation strategy, but Mr Garnett said representatives of the Environment Agency had told him the trees had been felled “because they make the water back up”.

He added: “It is like they have taken an old hippie and given him a buzz cut – it is scorched earth tactics.

“When are we going to start putting nature first? We always mess around with it. It is always very short-term and later on it is always nature that pays the price.”

Somerset County Gazette: GREEN: The river before it was stripped of trees (Pic: PA/ Dominic Garnett)GREEN: The river before it was stripped of trees (Pic: PA/ Dominic Garnett)

Mark Barrow, a film-maker who has specialised in productions about the freshwater species in the UK’s rivers and lakes for the past 20 years, tweeted: “Shocked to find this today on the River Tone.

“Complete devastation, courtesy of the Environment Agency. Scorched earth work the Russian Army would be proud of!

A spokeswoman for the Environment Agency said: “Essential work to manage flood risk and protect properties in Bathpool and the upstream town of Taunton is ongoing.

“We are investing a record £5.2 billion between 2021-27, creating around 2,000 new flood and coastal defences to better protect 336,000 properties across England.”

Local LibDem Parliamentary spokesperson Gideon Amos has written to the Agency protesting the “completely over the top” stripping of the riverbank.

He said: “People are working to put the planet at the centre of everything we do, that should mean protecting our trees and natural habitats.

"Taking dead trees out of the river to maintain flow is something everyone would support, but this scorched earth stripping of the riverbank by a government agency needs to stop.” 

The area is due to be sown with a wild flower seed mix and replanted with native trees.