A TREE that mysteriously vanished in the middle of the night was chopped down by East Riding Council, it has been revealed.
Residents of Wolfreton Road, in Anlaby, contacted the Mail last week after a tree was cut down at midnight on Monday.
This followed a tree inexplicably being cut down in Newland Avenue, west Hull, at 4am just days before.
East Riding Council has now confirmed to the Mail that it was responsible for chopping down the tree due to loose roots.
Paul Tripp, group manager for environmental services at the council, said: "The council was made aware of a tree that had become loose from its roots following the high winds on Monday night.
"It was touching telephone lines and could have potentially caused a lot of damage, so the decision was taken to take the tree down that night."
Meanwhile, mystery still surrounds the felling of the tree in Newland Avenue.
The tree was a nine-year-old acacia, which had been planted by the residents' association and Hull City Council in October 2005 as part of an effort to improve the street.
A £100 reward has been offered by the Newland Residents' Association in a bid to capture those responsible for cutting it down.
Hull City Council CCTV cameras captured the tree, which was located between Bulk Garage Nutrition and Sumo Japanese food shop, being cut down at 4.18am on Friday, October 3.
A spokesman for the association said: "We are no closer to finding out who is responsible for cutting down the tree.
"It's more confusing than anything else.
"We are just really disappointed that someone has gone out of their way to remove a tree that enhanced the look of the area."
Members of the association are now keen to have a replacement tree planted as soon as possible and have asked the city council for assistance.
Doug Sharp, assistant city manager for waste and open spaces at Hull City Council, said the culprit had still to be found.
He said: "We have made attempts to identify those responsible for felling the tree and, unfortunately, we have been unable to do so.
"The council will look at options to replace the tree in the future."
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