Ancient oak tree cut down in Whitewebbs Park Enfield

[sime42]

It was me, I did it! 

 

I mentioned the story in the New thread Stubs, but it was quickly eclipsed by the normal guff.

 

[Treewolf]

I understand that there was no TPO because the LA owns the tree and the land it stands on. The LA doesn't TPO its own trees because usually there is no need because it doesn't cut them down. The land is leased to Toby Carvery who contracted the felling without permission of the landlord and without any consultation, TC 'claims now that they were advised by "an expert" that the tree was dead and dangerous however the amount of green on the tree makes this a little hard to accept.

 

Completely unnecessary, a sad loss of a fine tree.

Edited April 17 by Treewolf

[Yournamehere]

12 minutes ago, Treewolf said:

I understand that there was no TPO because the LA owns the tree and the land it stands on. The LA doesn't TPO its own trees because usually there is no need because it doesn't cut them down. The land is leased to Toby Carvery who contracted the felling without permission of the landlord and without any consultation, TC 'claims now that they were advised by "an expert" that the tree was dead and dangerous however the amount of green on the tree makes this a little hard to accept.

 

Completely unnecessary, a sad loss of a fine tree.

Just quickly: (anyone) be careful of judging 'the amount of green' by the google street view pics further up the thread: the one in leaf is eight years old, the one out leaf is two years old (but still has full crown of twigs)

Sudden oak death syndrome notwithstanding.

Yourn

[Steven P]

Streetview: In leaf May 2016, out of leaf March 2023.. when none of the trees have leaves on, so I wouldn't take too much from that (unless of course both images were the same month years apart)

[kram]

Oaks are only just coming into leaf, some are quite green but others not woken up yet. The best image we have is from the BBC article. Looks to me that the crown was alive.

 

 

 

 

[kram]

2 hours ago, Treewolf said:

I understand that there was no TPO because the LA owns the tree and the land it stands on. The LA doesn't TPO its own trees because usually there is no need because it doesn't cut them down. The land is leased to Toby Carvery who contracted the felling without permission of the landlord and without any consultation, TC 'claims now that they were advised by "an expert" that the tree was dead and dangerous however the amount of green on the tree makes this a little hard to accept.

 

Completely unnecessary, a sad loss of a fine tree.

 

The council say they inspected and recommended work on the north crown and left the tennant to get on with it, the council did not do or pay for the work as the tennant is responsible for the lands maintence.

 

It is backwards if the council wont maintain its valuable trees and expects others to pay, and then doesnt like the result. Yes sad loss of the tree.

[Yournamehere]

Another BBC update

 

In a move NO ONE saw coming...

"Toby Carvery's owner has apologised after the company felled an ancient oak tree and admitted "we need to tighten our protocols" in a letter seen by the BBC."

[daveatdave]

on the images on TV, they seemed to be a bit of rot in the center on some of the cuts 

[Gordon S]

2 hours ago, daveatdave said:

on the images on TV, they seemed to be a bit of rot in the center on some of the cuts 

Yes, I thought so too, the left hand stem looked hollow.

 

One thing bothers me about this whole thing.

Usually when crimes against trees are committed there is a benefit to who instructed it. It is normally a home builder looking to clear a site. A home owner wanting to remove a tree that is blocking a sea view or causing some other issue.

The Toby Carvery wasn't looking to extend the building or carpark, also they would have had to pay thousands to have the tree removed. So unless they really thought there was a significant risk why would they have bother to do get it cut down? TC are not tree people so have had advice and acted on it. If they hadn't and wind had blown the tree onto someone then everyone would have been screaming corporate manslaughter and a company putting profit before the welfare of the public.

 

Yes, in hindsight it should have been dealt with differently and I'm sure all the negative press TC have received they regret it, but it does look like a disproportionate response from the media and some members of the public who appear to be out for blood. When no crime has been committed. 

[oldwoodcutter]

What’s that old saying - one man’s beauty is another man’s firewood