Hundreds of trees have died in a village near Darlington because they didn't get watered enough, a local councillor has suggested.
Labour-led Darlington Borough Council planted the saplings in the County Durham village of Merrybent, but all of them have perished in the wake of Britain's four heatwaves.
Great Party councillor, Kate Mammolotti, claimed that the council “clearly didn’t think about the possibility of very warm conditions” over the summer.
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Ms Mammolotti said: “The team that planted them said they have planted so many that with the hot weather they have had difficulty getting around watering them.
“It’s awful, absolutely heart-breaking.”
Local resident Clive Rickaby accused the Labour-led council of failing to take the long-term future of the trees seriously.
He fumed: “It is absolutely ridiculous, just a complete waste of taxpayers’ money..
Great Party councillor, Kate Mammolotti, claimed that the council 'clearly didn’t think about the possibility of very warm conditions'
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“If they don’t have a big enough team to water them, then they should not plant them.”
However, a Darlington Borough Council claimed that the death of the saplings was caused by “exceptionally dry and warm weather”.
"The trees were planted earlier this year and were watered when they went in and whilst they were getting established
Sadly, despite our best endeavours throughout the season, because of the exceptionally dry and warm weather we have had this year, a higher than normal number of saplings have failed.”
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According to the Government, the North East region is currently in the midst of "prolonged dry weather".
The neighbouring areas of Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Yorkshire and Cumbria have been designated as "drought" regions.
In several areas across Britain, water companies have brought in hosepipe bans because of limited rainfall and an increased demand for water during the hot weather.
South East Water, Southern Water, Yorkshire Water and Thames Water have brought in the bans, which impact over 8.5 million households across Britain.
Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Yorkshire and Cumbria have been designated as 'drought' regions
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Darlington Borough Council have pledged to remove the dead trees and will attempt to replace them when the next planting season rolls around.
Tree experts have said that planting more trees could help the public stay cool during future heatwaves.
Professor Philip Jones from the Welsh School of Architecture urged local governments that tree planting in city centres must go "go harder and go faster".
Professor Jones said that to lower the temperature of an area by around 5C, "we've got to increase the tree coverage to somewhere in the order of 30-40%".