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A man has received a £112,197 fine after felling around 200 trees without a licence.

Keith Smith, 63, of Blackwood , admitted to felling the trees, with his two sons, without a licence.

Natural Resources Wales (NRW) discovered the remains of the ancient beech trees on land at Pen y Fan farm in Blackwood .

They were covering an area of 200m cubed. The legal limit of trees allowed to be felled by a landowner in one calendar quarter is 5m cubed.

(Image: Natural Resources Wales)

NRW began an investigation which found that no felling licence was in place to remove the trees.

The trees in question were very mature and provided a valuable habitat for wildlife and because of this a licence would never have been consented to remove the trees in the area.

Mr Smith was previously a tenant on the land at Pen y Fan farm but claims that he was approached by a representative of one of the current tenants to fell the trees for a sum of £5,000.

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Tim Jones, Executive Director for Natural Resources Wales said: "Trees are incredibly important for the environment and wildlife, as part of the landscape and for our own health and wellbeing.

"The loss of these veteran trees, which were hundreds of years old, is devastating and it will take many generations for new trees to grow to replace them, if they grow at all.

"Like many things in our environment, trees are often taken for granted.

"Felling licences are part of the system we have in place so we can manage our trees and woodlands effectively, protecting them and making sure they continue and benefit us all now and into the future."