Natural Resources Wales (NRW) reports that more than 2,000 trees have been cut down from an eight-hectare area at Fairwood on the Gower peninsula in Swansea. Landowner Jeff Lane, 27, is pleading not guilty to illegally cutting down protected trees from a wooded area. Andrew Wright of NRW said that woodland authorities saw areas with stumps and pieces of trees that had been removed during a check in June 2019. According to Mr. Lane, most trees were waterlogged and rotting when he bought the land in 2017. He “cut down rotten and decayed trees” to improve the land. He added that nothing would grow there, so he planned to drain the region. Defense counsel David Leathley said Mr. Lane had been given incorrect information. He made reference to NRW telling Mr. Lane he was doing a great job when they visited the location. Mark Chester, an arboricultural advisor, also questioned the number of trees that were cut down. He believed there were just 362 trees, and there was no evidence that there were 2,000.