A mini digger is working on bare ground at the entrance to Ysgol Bancyfelin this week, behind metal fencing, beside a cement mixer and a stack of bricks.
It is standing where the village Christmas tree stood until the evening of Wednesday 12 August.
Carmarthenshire Council now says the tree was felled deliberately, as part of a planned scheme.
“The tree located at the entrance of Bancyfelin School was felled as part of an agreed programme of work to provide necessary access improvements to safeguard pupils and others when entering the school grounds,” a spokesperson for the council said.
The school says it agreed to nothing of the sort.
“We were not aware of and completely disagree with the cutting of the tree in front of the school. We did not give permission for this to happen,” staff and governors said in a statement issued by Rhian Bowen and Norma Pejsak, chairs of the Bancyfelin and Llangain federation.
Four accounts in ten days
On the Saturday after the felling, trustee Bruce Wallace told the village he had been informed the tree was removed by the council’s grounds maintenance team “due to an oversight”, and that a replacement had been agreed as soon as possible.
By the Monday, an update from Mrs Bowen said it was the council’s building department that had apologised, explaining the tree was cut to improve the school entrance and boundary fence “without considering that it was an important tree”. A new tree was promised before Christmas.
On Wednesday morning, Simon Davies, the council’s head of economic development and property, said in an update shared by the village hall team that the tree was felled as part of access improvement works, and that the council was looking into the circumstances, including who owns the land it stood on.
Today’s statement is the first to describe the felling as agreed. It does not repeat the apology, the promise of a replacement tree, or the question of who owns the land.
Bought as a sapling in 2010
The tree was bought as a sapling in 2010 by the then Bancyfelin Education and Community Trust, from a nursery at Llanarthne.
It was planted by trustees Bruce Wallace and Graham Edwards, with the school’s agreement.
Over fifteen years it grew tall enough to carry the village Christmas lights, and became the centrepiece of carol singing each December.
Residents described years of memories chopped down in seconds. One said it was sad to see a skip where the tree once stood.
What happens now
The council says it wants to talk to the school when term restarts.
“We are keen to work with the school community when they return for the new term to establish a suitable way forward,” the spokesperson said.
The village hall team, which passed on the council’s earlier response, said it welcomed the council’s willingness to work with the community and looked forward to seeing what could be done to replace the tree.
What nobody has said is who agreed the programme of work, and whether the tree was ever part of it.
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