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Work to create a new car park, pollard trees and remove a hedge on the site of Haverhill’s proposed multiplex cinema is scheduled to begin on Monday 12th February. Work on the car park is expected to take about 16 weeks. Pollarding the trees will take around two weeks and should begin on Monday 19 February.

The trees, most of which are on land to the east of the Leisure Centre in Ehringshausen Way, will be pollarded to prevent birds from nesting in them prior to their removal in mid-March under a Forestry Commission licence. The felled trees will then be recycled into chippings and fire wood. The work must be carried out before the bird nesting season to ensure that plans for the town’s five-screen cinema remain on track. New tree planting, landscaping and environmental enhancements will be added to the area as part of the overall cinema and restaurant scheme to replace the trees which are lost. The work will not affect the elms.

Contractors are also set to begin work to create a new 96-space car park on land to the rear of the fire station. Initial preparations, known as enabling works, will take place over the next few weeks and the old tennis courts and floodlights will be removed before drainage work is carried out and a new surface laid using recycled materials. The car park will then be used to provide car parking for Leisure Centre customers when work begins to develop the cinema.

Cllr Jeff Stevens, Chairman of the Haverhill Area Working Party, said:
“These initial works are an essential part of the overall scheme and will clear the way for the much-anticipated multiplex cinema. Building the car park will ensure people using the Leisure Centre will enjoy convenient parking close by as work on the multiplex progresses, while the landscaping work will be part of an enhanced environment in the future. Extensive planting has been included as part of the overall scheme and ultimately the area will end up looking even better than ever.”