VILLAGERS want a 20ft tree knocked down outside the community centre in St Vigor Way at Colden Common by a Hampshire County Council lorry to be replaced.

It was felled after the vehicle backed into it twice on Monday.

However, parish clerk, Bill Reed, indicated that the situation could have been very different.

"If it had been an hour earlier, then the toddlers would have been coming out of the playgroup - so that could have been nasty."

As the tree fell, it damaged metal railings and brick paving around the trunk. Mr Reed estimates that the repairs will cost several hundred pounds.

"We will be seeking a replacement tree - and it won't be us that pays," he insisted.

Parish council member, Jo Anstey, said it had been planted around 15 years ago.

"We're really angry because it will take a long time to grow a tree of this size again." She added that some residents initially blamed louts for the damage caused by the truck.

Thanks to a £7,000 CCTV system installed last year to protect the community centre against vandals, the parish council has video evidence of the council truck reversing into the tree.

Maureen Rees, who chairs the community centre management committee, has viewed it.

She said the County Supplies lorry was bringing stationery and cleaning items to the centre. "It just backed up and knocked the tree down," she added.

The county council, which owns the vehicle, said it was looking into the matter.