RESIDENTS near Blackwood have expressed their anger after around 200 trees were chopped down.

Officers from Natural Resources Wales (NRW) have launched an investigation into the chopping down of a row of Beech Trees in what they have described as a “serious case”.

It was brought to their attention by Caerphilly County Borough Council last week after several ramblers called the local authority to express their fury at what some have described a “tragedy” with many of the trees being over two centuries old.

Walter Hoskins, of Bryn Road in Markham, said: “I was walking near to where the trees are with my daughter earlier this month as she regularly walks near to where they’ve been chopped down and it’s a disgrace.

“I’m really upset about it as they are riding rough shod over the local authorities and they need to be stopped. I think it’s very nasty and it will devastate the wildlife. They need to be stopped.”

Councillor Leon Gardiner, added: “My phone hasn’t stopped ringing with people angry about the devastation that is being caused.”

The trees are near Pen-Y-Fan Country Park.

A NRW spokesman added: “We do have several leads but are not willing to disclose any information about them at this time. We believe some of the trees may have been chopped down during the Christmas period and up to six weeks ago.”

This quantity of trees would have required a licence for felling from NRW, but an investigation has found that no such licence had been sanctioned.

The NRW website states that felling licences are issued to protect the forests and woodlands of Wales and to prevent indiscriminate felling.

A Caerphilly CBC spokesman said: “We are aware of this unfortunate incident and take this kind of environmental destruction very seriously. NRW, as lead agency, is currently undertaking an investigation into the matter.”