THE key officers involved in the felling of riverside willows in Osney Island will face questioning tomorrow from Oxford City Council's head of complaints.

Mike Newman has a list of 42 questions to put to strategic director for physical environment Sharon Cosgrove, parks manager John Wade and tree officer Shaun Gibson.

The council said the 11 trees which lined East Street had to be felled as they were rotten, despite the best efforts to save them by residents.

They have been sending complaints forms to the council officers, who are meeting to discuss the situation tomorrow.

Resident Kate Stewart, of East Street, accused the council of being bad neighbours by felling the trees without consulting residents.

She said: "Personally I was hoping my anger would subside over this but it is getting worse.

"We have commissioned a post mortem on the trees for evidence and are trying to see if we can raise money for a full report which we can send to the Ombudsman.

"Some of us feel that unless this matter is resolved satisfactorily, and a thorough investigation done, the future for Oxford's mature trees is bleak."

She called for a tree management plan and a tree risk policy to be put in place in the street.

David Hammond, also of East Street, said the loss of the trees was devastating.

But he said: "Now we have an opportunity to try and tidy up things down East Street. There are a lot of unwanted signs which were resting behind the camouflage of the beautiful trees for years.

"It is an opportunity to get the council to help us do something really nice."

Susanna Pressel, Labour city councillor for Jericho and Osney, said: "We will go to the Ombudsmen if we are not satisfied with the council's response to our complaints."

A spokesman for Oxford City Council said: "There will be an internal meeting between parks officers and the corporate complaints manager.

"This is normal practice when we receive complaints from residents regarding a council decision."