Bungling council gardeners have covered an entire football pitch with trees.
Youngsters enjoyed a game on the newly-landscaped pitch at Logie Durno yesterday during the mid-term break – but had to use expert dribbling techniques to negotiate the horticultural obstacles.
Locals in the village, near Inverurie, were shocked to discover the saplings dotted all over the pitch, which is regularly used.
Photographs questioning the move were posted online, and have received scores of comments – with some describing it as “ridiculous” while others joked “special branch” should be brought in to investigate the blunder.
Last night, Aberdeenshire Council said they had planned to turn the grassy area – which they did not believe was used – into a bio-diversity zone, but would now consult with the community.
Steven Jaffray, a member of the Logie Durno Hall and Community committee, said: “The community is baffled by it really – we don’t understand why. They were planted last week – one of my kids told me about them – but because of the dark nights I have only seen them for myself at the weekend.
“No one objects to the planting of trees, but there is certainly plenty of room around the perimeter of the pitch where they could have gone instead. Some are even in the middle of the goal posts.
“With the lighter nights coming in, it would be getting used more – it’s our community green space and the school uses it for sports days in the summer.”
He added the committee were “surprised and disappointed” that the trees had been planted without any consultation.
“We probably would have welcomed the planting of trees in an agreed appropriate area in the park but not on a used football pitch,” he said.
A spokeswoman for Aberdeenshire Council apologised last night, and said: “It would seem that we were barking up the wrong tree with plans for this site.
“The intention was to turn over part of the area for bio-diversity as anecdotally it was rarely used. However it is clear now that the community were not engaged with this plan.
“As such we are going back to first principles with them so they can help use decide what this area should be used for.
“There are full pitches immediately next to this area for community leisure use and the trees will remain on this site until we can come to an agreement with residents. We are sorry for any inconvenience this has caused.”
Online, there was a mixed reaction to the photographs – with some incredulous at the incident.
One commentator wrote: “What on earth possessed them to plant trees on a football pitch?”
But another posted said: “That’s so they can have a tree-mendous game on it.”
Another joked: “That should be investigated – call in special branch, they will twig it right away”, while someone else posted: “It’s nice to see Nottingham Forest playing an away game up here.”
