A council worker who complained about the way the Western Morning News covered a row over palm trees in Torquay has had his arguments rejected by the press watchdog.

He claimed the paper’s use of selective quotes meant its articles on the issue were inaccurate.

But the Press Complaints Commission has said that it is satisfied that the council’s position was reported accurately and that the paper did not breach the code of practice.

Paul Osborne, senior urban design and landscape officer at Torbay Council, said the quotes from him in the paper wrongly gave the impression that the council intended to remove palm trees in the area.

The quotes came from a letter he wrote in response to correspondence from chamber of trade branch chairman Robert Excell, who had accused the council of trying to phase out the plants.

The PCC said that after taking all of the articles into account it was happy with the way the WMN had treated the issue, and pointed out that the articles had repeatedly included the council’s pledge that it was continuing to plant the trees.

Under the headline “Palm trees are dangerous”, the WMN also quoted a number of influential people, including the Mayor of Torbay, Nick Bye, refuting the claim that palm trees could be a health and safety hazard.