AN environmental group and many Marlborough residents have slammed the actions of some locals who set a tree alight and left litter in the Stonebridge Meadow.

At 8.41am on Friday, Marlborough firefighters headed to the 15-acre meadow, jointly owned by Action for the River Kennet (ARK) and the town council, to extinguish a fire on a standing dead poplar tree.

Those responsible also left a large amount of litter in the meadow which ARK officer Anna Forbes cleared up later that morning.

This incident has caused debate amongst the local community, with some saying this is unacceptable behaviour whereas others have said the outrage expressed by many is an overreaction.

"It is pretty appalling that people have done this. Setting alight a tree that is still used by wildlife and not even picking up their litter when there are plenty of bins around is very disappointing," said Ms Forbes.

"On that very standing dead poplar tree you get woodpeckers, bats, tree creepers and bees using it. When I got on Friday morning I was told by the police to call the fire brigade as it was still smouldering.

"This is within the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, is a designated Wildlife Site and for the last two years it has received an outstanding from South West in Bloom. I want to thank the firefighters for getting here so promptly and hopefully this will not happen again."

Many others on social media shared Ms Forbes' view but others said the whole thing was overblown.

Karen Lloyd posted on Marlborough Notice Board: "Yes, they shouldn't have burnt down the tree but we've all been stupid drunken teenagers. Hopefully they will get this out of their system and become good adults, laughing about how stupid they were as teenagers."

Mike Booth added: "That's called growing up. It costs sweat and money to get rid of tree stumps. At least you know where they are. There's a lot worse in the news."

Chris Wyatt said: "Leave the kids alone. We have all done things like this, no one's perfect. Typical mindless busybodies in Marlborough."

A spokesman for the fire service said: "We would want to remind the members of our community, that fire is not a toy and should always be treated with respect. Small fires can escalate quickly and become life-threatening."