Kent County Council says it is investigating after "incompetent" contractors cut back the wrong area of ancient woodland in Whitstable.

Workmen were spotted erroneously strimming in Benacre Wood, tearing their way through tree saplings, including young elms and field maple.

The stretch of woodland makes up part of the 90-acre Gorrell Valley Nature Reserve, which benefits from holding village green status and tree protection orders.

But somehow contractors, who were meant to be clearing vegetation obstructing a public footpath, found themselves in the wrong area.

About 500 metres of trees was cut back in error, with many wiped out.

A probe to identify how the mistake occurred is ongoing, and KCC has not admitted wrongdoing.

But Cllr Ashley Clark, a member of the Canterbury district authority and head warden of the nature reserve, says the contractors were there on behalf of the county council.

"It just beggars belief and is incompetent," he said.

"I'm sure the contractors didn't have a map to know where they were meant to be, and even if they did, they wouldn't know how to use it. They were completely off course by considerable distance.

"They should not have been there. They had absolutely no reason to be cutting back in the village green area.

"They should have been over the other side of the hedgerow so I redirected them to the actual public right of way and they went off to strim that area, in a fashion.

"To send people out to the wrong area is crass in the extreme, and to send people out who can't read maps is crass in the extreme.

"They were totally insensitive to what they were cutting. They don't know the difference between a rhubarb leaf and an oak leaf."

The area in which the contractors cut in error is an informal public footpath used regularly by walkers to get through the woodland.

A council spokesman said: “Contractors working for KCC have been in the area with a remit to cut back vegetation which is deemed to be obstructing the public footpath.

“However, there is also other activity taking place in connection with a new housing development and, so far, we have failed to identify who cut back the vegetation in what seems to be the wrong area. Our investigations are continuing.”

Cllr Clark added: "What makes it more annoying is there are other areas which are crying out for a bit of work, places where you need to be like Indiana Jones to get through.

"The mistake is just a massive waste of public money.

'They don't know the difference between a rhubarb leaf and an oak leaf...'

"And sadly young trees have also been destroyed.

"It's not as if they've gone down with a chainsaw cutting down trees but it's still very annoying. All trees need to start as something."

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