CHEPSTOW Town Clerk Brian Jones could hardly believe his eyes when a gang of workmen started pollarding trees in historic Beaufort Square.

For the brutal trim they were about to give the mature London plane and lime trees had been organised without the town council's knowledge in a prime conservation area.

And now the town council is considering legal action against Monmouthshire County Council, which organised the work.

"I got the work stopped within the hour, and fortunately they had only started on one tree," said Mr Jones.

"It is the most shocking case of lack of consultation I have ever seen. The council is reserving its options on taking action – we could bring the council before the magistrates, since it is an illegal act in a conservation area."

Mr Jones said the business started when Chepstow Civic Society approached the county council to seek advice on whether or not the trees needed pruning.

"From there it got completely out of hand," he said. "Instead of contacting the parks and gardens department for advice as they should, somebody asked the highways department to take action – and they consulted outside contractors and hired them for the work.

"No attempt was made to inform the Chepstow Town Council, and the first we learned about it was when the men actually started work on the trees."

Any matters relating to trees in conservation areas have to first be referred to local planners for consideration, giving six weeks' notice of action.

Mr Jones said that since the incident experts from Monmouthshire County Council's parks and gardens department had inspected the trees and advised that they did not need any work.