A PLEA to save a historic Saundersfoot tree at risk of felling in Saundersfoot has been made.

An application has been made to Pembrokeshire Coast National Park to fell a Monterey Cypress tree at the village’s Scar Rock.

Saundersfoot & District Historical Society's committee said: “The Monterey Cypress growing on Scar Rock on Saundersfoot’s front beach has been an attractive and much-loved feature of the village for over eighty years. Notes held by the Historical Society reveal that it was planted on the Rock in January 1938 by Mr George Williams whose family lived in 18 Railway Street, a cottage on the site of what is now Beach Court.

"When small the tree was taken indoors at Christmas to be decorated. However, by 1937 it was clear it had become too large to be used indoors again so a decision to plant it on Scar Rock, which the family called their top garden, was taken.

“The Monterey Cypress is an unusual tree. A native of the Pacific Coast of North America it is salt resistant and thrives on rocky ground and cliffs.

“Our tree has withstood many winter storms while pushing its roots deep within the Rock and perhaps further into the surrounding area.

“An application has been made to the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority to have the tree felled. The reasons cited are for public safety but the History Society, and indeed the Friends of Saundersfoot and District, feel strongly that a rigorous evidence-based assessment be made before such an important feature of the Saundersfoot landscape is lost for ever.

“While public safety is paramount, any decision about the tree must be made on accepted arboreal grounds.”

The application may be viewed on the national park planning website, reference NP/21/0172/TPO.