WORKMEN driving cars and vans onto Cherry Hill park in Ely are churning up the ground and causing lasting damage, residents say.

Ely Standard:

Tree surgeons have been at work in the park, near Ely Cathedral, in the past few weeks and have had to drive across the grass to get their equipment near enough to the trees.

With the ground still sodden from heavy winter rainfall however, visitors to the park say that the heavy vehicles have left deep ruts in the ground that may have left the grass unable to grow back.

One concerned resident told the Ely Standard: “Whilst walking through Cherry Hill I was amazed to see the damage where the tree surgeons had been driving their heavy vehicles across the grass leaving deep ruts in the grass.

“Surely once the grass grows again it will grow around the ruts and not refill them. I hope the council take measures to ensure these are repaired.”

Late last year, another reader contacted the paper about the mess left by people using sleds in the park which, he said, had made the park a mud bath and an eyesore.

Cathy White, senior trees officer, said: “Tree surgeons have been carrying out a number of very important jobs in the Cherry Hill park from pruning branches to felling decayed and dead trees.

“Due to the soft ground conditions, our contractors were very careful about where they parked and were mindful of the small divots which were created by the fallen trees. Our parks and open spaces team will be looking to see if any of the areas need to be repaired but in many cases, the current ground conditions mean the grass will naturally recover.”