THE bunting has gone but the fight goes on.

That was the message from campaigners from the ‘Save the Heart of Kendal’ group after their volunteers took down the bunting and decorations from trees along Aynam Road in the town.

The trees, which lie on a grassy area close to the River Kent, were festooned with various Christmas decorations, bunting and a large banner prior to the Festive period by opponents of the multi-million pound flood defence scheme.

Phase one of the scheme will necessitate the removal of many mature trees and the plan to decorate the trees was conceived to draw attention to the fact that they were in line to be removed.

Many members of the public added their own decorations and the objects remained in place into the New Year.

However, Save the Heart of Kendal organisers this week received a notice from South Lakeland District Council (SLDC) requesting that the banners be removed.

The notice read: “I am contacting you regarding the bunting and signage erected on land alongside Aynam Road, Kendal.

“As the event to ‘decorate’ the trees was widely advertised on out Facebook page and the sign erected is advertising your campaign, I am contacting you regarding this matter.”

The message goes on to state that the bunting and signage had been placed on land belonging to SLDC and this raised a number of issues including the fact that permission to place it had not been sought.

And the group immediately responded to the request, arranging for a team of volunteers to remove the offending items.

“The last thing we want to do is alienate people, but it’s also been lovely to see that since we decorated the trees the other week, other people have been adding decorations, unprompted, and clearly because they don’t want the trees removed,” said a spokesperson for the group.

The group pointed out that all the Christmas decorations had been carefully removed and passed on the the charity Oxfam for resale and reuse.

With regards to the wider flood issue, Save the Heart of Kendal said they had also noted the comments of the Environment Agency in response to their concerns over the scheme and would prepare an appropriate response.