PLANS to spend £800 planting a tree in Darfield have been thrown out by councillors after opposition from the public.

Residents who requested the tree said they were disappointed.

In September the Darfield Councillors voted two-to-one in favour of setting a tree into a the tarmac at the edge of Nanny Marr Road.

But a petition objecting on the grounds of the cost was signed by 146 and on Monday the area forum meeting was told the tree plan will not go ahead.

Coun David Wainwright said: “We need to draw a line under it now. It was never about winners and losers, it was about what was right.

“It means now we’ve got another £800 to put back into the community.”

Coun Wainwright had opposed the plan from the beginning. After the petition last month, Coun Ron Fisher said if the public did not want the tree, ‘the tree would not progress’.

Residents living next to where the tree was going to be planted said they were disappointed.

One said: “It’s a shame it won’t go ahead. It would have been a nice bit of green on what’s a very bland, grey bit of tarmac. It would have been environmentally friendly too.”

Another resident said: “The only reason I asked for it is because we were asked what we thought would improve the area where we live. I’d like to preserve the environment, and I just thought it would be a good idea to plant. It was never about parking or anything else.”