Trees which sprung up in an Aberdeenshire village football pitch could remain there for good as part of council plans to create a community orchard.
Residents of Logie Durno were left “baffled” when they arrived at the grounds last month to find it riddled with freshly placed saplings.
The Aberdeenshire Council blunder forced youngsters to dribble around the fruit trees when playing football during the mid-term break.
Villagers claimed the work had been carried out without consultation, and last night the local authority confirmed the planting was the first step in plans for a Logie Durno community orchard.
However, a new five-a-side pitch may be created elsewhere in the village.
Locals recently met with council officials to discuss the mix-up.
Logie Durno Hall and Community Committee member, Steven Jaffray, said: “We were keen to steer it forward into what was going to happen next. The council tabled their proposal to leave the trees in place, as it’s part of their biodiversity initiative.
“They are talking about planting up a wild meadow roundabouts too – they fully admitted that due to budget cuts they can’t maintain the green spaces that we have and they plan to turn a percentage of all our green spaces into biodiversity areas.
“The trees are actually an orchard of fruit trees, so we can envisage a nice woodland walk in years to come, but we questioned the maintenance of that.
“They also said that they fully intended to move the goal posts to give us the five-a-side pitch somewhere else, but at their choice and without consultation.
“We have now entered a two-week consultation period with the rest of the community.”
The council’s roads and landscape service manager for the area, Philip Leiper, said: “It is important to note that we started the meeting with an unreserved apology for the direction this has taken without engagement.
“It was a lively meeting and we were able to get an idea of what the community want. A working group of those who attended has now been set up to look at proposals.
“These could include a wild flower meadow and a bespoke five-a-side pitch somewhere else in the park as it became clear that the only other goals in the community are full sized and not great for smaller kids.
“I am pleased to see that the community supported the principles of what we were trying to achieve, and were even encouraged to hear that what we were planting was the start of a community orchard which would benefit them all.”
