A Tory council chief who quit after the midnight felling of more than 100 trees has labelled the area as an “unsafe dump", ahead of a key court ruling.

Richard Bingley, who this week stepped down as the Plymouth city council leader amid a heated row over the felling of trees, told The Telegraph he had “no regrets” despite the backlash.  

In a night-time operation, 110 trees were cut down last week to make way for a £12.6 million regeneration project in an act labelled “environmental vandalism”. 

Cllr Bingley was facing a vote of no confidence next Monday over his decision to approve the felling, but announced on Wednesday that instead he would step aside.

High Court battle

Only 16 trees remained at the site by the time a last-minute injunction forced contractors to stop cutting them down at 1am, after campaigners caught wind that the operation was under way. 

On Friday, a fight to save them reached the High Court, as the campaign group 'Save the Trees of Armada Way' is trying to resist the council's application to lift the injunction.

If the High Court rules in the council’s favour, the cutting of the trees could resume at the site within hours. 

Speaking to The Telegraph, Cllr Bingley was unrepentant, claiming that the pedestrian area of Armada Way, where the regeneration project is to take place, was “unsafe”. 

'Unsafe dump'

He also accused the Labour Party and Green Party of bringing “political extremism” into the city, for their opposition to a scheme that both party leaderships originally supported. 

“I have no regrets whatsoever about implementing this plan which will transform an area of our city that was and is an unsafe dump," he said. 

“Our improvement plan is tremendous, exactly what our blighted city centre needs.

“My own take on this, is that [the] council's revised Armada Way transformation plan - rich in tree-lines and fauna - is both beautiful and belated.”

Mr Bingley claimed that due to “haphazard tree cover, poor CCTV penetration and the area’s general emptiness and eeriness”, the city centre was unsafe for women and girls. 

He also said that the proposed development would reduce the threat and risk to Plymouth’s “most vulnerable citizens and visitors”. 

He added: “In a couple of years, maybe sooner, should the courts allow, Armada Way will be an urban space that we can all be so very proud of, and pleased to spend time in.” 

Campaigners are also hoping to save the stumps of the 110 trees that were already chopped down and secure an ecological assessment before any of the branches and debris are cleared.

Luke Pollard, the Labour MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, said on Wednesday that Mr Bingley had “no option but to resign” after his “disastrous handling” of the tree felling. 

“Felling over 100 trees without proper public consultation was an act of environmental vandalism,” Mr Pollard said. 

The project was also criticised by the Woodland Trust, which said it was “appalled to see the scale of tree felling in Plymouth city centre and the use of secretive night-time operations to do this”.

In a resignation statement earlier this week, days before his no-confidence vote was due, Cllr Bingley said: Mr Bingley said: “I’ve always said I’m not a full-time politician, I don’t seek to be, I’m just an individual who is passionate and ambitious for Plymouth.

“If others feel they can run our glorious Ocean City better, then that’s great with me. ‘Over to you,’ I say.”