Flight museum set to chop down 200 trees to move planes

The attraction wants to create a path to shift four planes - including its Concorde - into new exhibition centre.

Flight museum set to chop down 200 trees to move planes

Hundreds of mature trees are set to be chopped down to create a path so four planes can be moved at the National Museum of Flight.

A 40m swathe needs to be cut through trees so the aircraft can be taken to a new exhibition centre at the East Lothian attraction.

Three planes need to be brought indoors to protect them, museum bosses said, while the museum’s Concorde would also be transported from its current hangar.

But its plans reveal 229 trees would be felled, angering environmental campaigners and local residents.

An objection has been lodged by the Woodland Trust, which warned: “Ancient woodland is irreplaceable – once gone it cannot be recreated.”

The museum said: “Due to the conservation requirement to preserve the integrity of the aircraft, the wings cannot be detached and therefore, in order to facilitate the project, the tree belt requires to be removed.”

Story by local democracy reporter Marie Sharp

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