Tone Death?

A section of the River Tone, near Taunton, formerly meandered through marshy ground. The river was channelled, when housing was constructed nearby. Trees grew on the river banks and this became a popular spot for anglers and natural history enthusiasts. These people have been 'devastated' by the Environmental Agency (EA) suddenly removing all the trees from this 250 m stretch of the Tone (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/feb/06/anglers-heartbroken-as-stretch-of-river-tone-stripped-of-trees). The EA claim that the tree removal (and associated dredging) was "essential work to manage flood risk and protect people." They suggest that the trees near the river banks were causing water to back-up. The EA maintain that they always do their work sensitively and undertake measures (such as tree planting) to compensate. Anglers and bird watchers say, however, the work was carried out too near the times of fish spawning (in the river weeds) and birds (such as Kingfishers) nesting in the trees. It doesn't appear that the EA have consulted very effectively with local users. Perhaps the flood risk was exacerbated by the initial channelling of the river? Perhaps it wasn't a great idea to build new housing there? In the UK, house building often occurs in areas with a flooding risk.