A restaurant chain has apologized after sparking outrage when it cut down an oak tree in London that was believed to be up to 500 years old. <\/p>\n
Described by British conservation charity the Woodland Trust as \u201cone of London\u2019s largest and most significant ancient trees,\u201d the huge oak was located outside a branch of Toby Carvery, a popular restaurant chain known for its roast dinners, in Whitewebbs Park in the borough of Enfield. <\/p>\n
The tree\u2019s remains, surrounded by its severed branches, were discovered by council workers on April 3. Enfield Council owns the land the tree was located on, and it is leased to Toby Carvery. <\/p>\n
The owner of Toby Carvery, Mitchells & Butlers, said the chain was advised by contractors to cut the tree as it \u201ccaused a potential health and safety risk.\u201d <\/p>\n
With a girth of 6.1 meters (20 feet), the tree ranked in the top 100 of London\u2019s 600,000 oak trees for size, according to the Woodland Trust. <\/p>\n
\u201cI am outraged that the leaseholder has cut down this beautiful ancient oak tree without seeking any permissions or advice from Enfield Council,\u201d said Ergin Erbil, the leader of Enfield Council, in a statement Wednesday. \u201cWe have evidence that this tree was alive and starting to grow new spring leaves when this action was taken.\u201d <\/p>\n
He said the council believes the action has \u201cbroken the terms of the lease which requires Toby Carvery to maintain and protect the existing landscape.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThe tree was the oldest one on site and cutting it down seems to be a clear breach of this condition. This tree would have been home to countless wildlife, fungi, and pollinators. This tree is a part of our ecological and cultural heritage,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n
The council said it is considering legal action. <\/p>\n
According to the council, when experts inspected the oak in December, it was deemed \u201chealthy\u201d and \u201cposed no risk\u201d to the neighboring carpark and its users. An emergency tree preservation order has been imposed on the base of the stump, the Woodland Trust said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe took necessary measures to ensure any legal requirements were met,\u201d it added. <\/p>\n
Phil Urban, the chain\u2019s CEO, later apologized for \u201call the anger and upset that this incident has caused.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cClearly the felling of a beautiful old tree is a very emotive subject and is not something that any of us would undertake lightly,\u201d said Urban in a letter addressing the incident. \u201cWe cannot undo what has been done,\u201d he said, adding: \u201cWe need to tighten our protocols.\u201d <\/p>\n
Benny Hawksbee, who lives in Enfield and is a member of the Guardians of Whitewebbs group, said in the Woodland Trust statement that people want \u201canswers.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThe tree belonged to Enfield and to our national heritage. I am devastated,\u201d said Hawksbee. <\/p>\n
Jon Stokes, director of trees, science and research at the Tree Council, said in the trust\u2019s statement that ancient oaks can live up to 1,000 years. <\/p>\n
Despite the damage, council leader Erbil said the oak \u201cshows clear signs of life,\u201d adding: \u201cWe will also do everything we can to help the tree regrow.\u201d <\/p>\n
This is not the first time that the felling of a tree has sparked outrage in the United Kingdom. <\/p>\n
Last year, a famous sycamore tree in northern England that featured in the 1991 blockbuster film \u201cRobin Hood: Prince Of Thieves\u201d was cut down in what authorities at the time labeled an \u201cact of vandalism.\u201d Meanwhile, in 2021 there was a mysterious spate of tree felling in southern England that saw dozens cut down in the dead of night. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A restaurant chain has apologized after sparking outrage when it cut down an oak tree in London that was believed to be up to 500 years old. Described by British conservation charity the Woodland Trust as \u201cone of London\u2019s largest and most significant ancient trees,\u201d the huge oak was located outside a branch of Toby…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5569,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}