During the Easter Bank Holiday weekend, a wave of anger and sorrow surged among those who gathered to voice their outrage over the removal of a tree in Enfield believed to be as old as 500 years.
“This act is a violation of nature,” stated one activist. “It’s an assault on a living being that has existed for half a millennium.”
On Sunday, hundreds assembled to protest the logging of an ancient oak tree in Whitewebbs Park, located in north London.
This pedunculate oak, which was cut down on April 3, stood at the boundary of an Enfield council-owned park, positioned near the Toby Carvery pub.
The council had leased the land where the tree was situated to the Toby Carvery.
The council only became aware of the tree’s removal last week.
On Wednesday, the leader of Enfield Council denounced the act as “an outrage” and indicated that all legal avenues were being explored.
Mitchells & Butlers, the parent company of the Toby Carvery chain, stated they felled the tree after being informed it was deceased.
In a public statement, the company mentioned that they acted on advice from contractors who noted that “the split and dead wood posed a significant health and safety hazard.”
They later elaborated that they had implemented “necessary measures to meet any legal obligations.”
A petition calling for an independent inquiry into the incident has garnered thousands of signatures aimed at Enfield Council.
Over the weekend, various responses to the tree’s removal were shared.
Independent tree expert Russell Miller told BBC London, “We believe this might be one of fewer than 100 trees of this scale still in London, making its loss enormously significant.”
“There is a possibility that the tree could sprout again, but the likelihood is that the extensive damage it suffered will lead to its desiccation, as while new shoots might emerge, they would eventually perish due to the failure of its overall system.”
Boasting a trunk circumference of 20 feet (6 meters), this nationally significant pedunculate oak was cataloged in the Woodland Trust’s ancient tree inventory.
The news of the tree’s destruction emerged just days after a report from the Tree Council and environmental organization Forest Research highlighted that trees had limited indirect protection, identifying several “notable legal deficiencies.”
