can you make a protest about an ancient tree being cut down?

Our local church has a stunning old oak tree ( older than the church itself). New owners bought the house next door and erected a fence, taking a few feet of churches land and making the tree in their garden. The intention was to cut the tree down but church members and other neighbours put up a fight to have the new fence removed and the proper boundaries restored so the tree was saved. Also in the village car park , an oak tree of a similar age they p council wanted to remove. The community tied ribbons around the tree and created such a protest that the plans were reversed. We need to look after our trees. So many are disappearing from gardens and public spots

I also come from Enfield (although I no longer live there) but know the park well. As I said on page one of this discussion, something about this stinks.

This latest piece in The Guardian discloses that the links between Mitchell & Butler Retail and Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. They are owned by the same investment company. This incident need a thorough investigation.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/apr/17/felled-enfield-oak-tree-spurs-toby-carvery-london

watermeadow

I’ve never heard of any ‘tree surgeon’ saying any tree was healthy. Their income is cutting down trees.
How people hate a big tree which shades their house and drops leaves on it! Most new estates give every house a patch of grass surrounded by 6’ fencing.
The Toby Carvery lied about a report that said that magnificent oak was healthy and would live another 100 years. It was worth 100 of their nondescript cafes and I hope they are prosecuted and fined hugely.

Rubbish! we have worked with tree surgeons who helped us keep two trees in different places alive and thriving. The crown of the magnficent hazel tree in our garden was lifted and trimmed back slightly regularly for 25 years.

The same with ahug Holm Oak. We kept it trimmed and shaped and google maths show it is flourishing still, 20 years after the house was sold

MOnica. I come from Enfield and Whitewebbs is a lovely park with lots of beautiful trees. The oak in question was not in danger of falling down the council had it properly checked by responsible company last year who found it to be in very good condition for an ancient 500yr old tree and it could have continued it’s life for many many more years to come, oak trees can live for 1000 yrs. The Tobery Carvery leased the land from the Council and therefore should have applied for permission before touching the tree, they didn’t and the Council have reported the vandalism to the police, and rightly so.

A genuine tree surgeon doesn't just chop them down you know watermeadow.

Quite right.

If you need to choose a tree surgeon, have a look to see if your Council has a list of approved tree surgeons on its website.

A tree surgeon told me that a tree that my neighbour thought was "dangerous" and "split" was in fact fine.
He climbed it to check on the "split".

A genuine tree surgeon doesn't just chop them down you know watermeadow.

Neither Grammaretto nor I have found that to be the case.

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202504/medium-9bjy22-img-1288.jpeg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202504/medium-dd1wqb-img-0063.jpeg

watermeadow

I’ve never heard of any ‘tree surgeon’ saying any tree was healthy. Their income is cutting down trees.
How people hate a big tree which shades their house and drops leaves on it! Most new estates give every house a patch of grass surrounded by 6’ fencing.
The Toby Carvery lied about a report that said that magnificent oak was healthy and would live another 100 years. It was worth 100 of their nondescript cafes and I hope they are prosecuted and fined hugely.

The moss that grows everywhere on my path and driveway is a slip hazard, especially now I’m older and have dodgy knees. The Silver Birch seeds mean that I have to keep windows closed and my dog treads them into the house. They are everywhere even though I change into house shoes when I’ve been in the garden. The garage returned my car while I was away and couldn’t park it where I’d asked them to so I had to arrange for someone to move it otherwise the pigeon poo would have started to corrode it. I can’t use my patio door. I have to put cardboard down because of the pigeon poo. I have to clean it off my new UPVC windows asap and it damaged the old wooden windows. I have to pay to have my gutters cleaned twice a year as the pine needles and cones fill them almost as soon as they’ve been removed ( a cost that eats into my small pension). The birch seeds also get into my car engine! As a town girl I was thrilled to buy a house surrounded by trees but now I’m older it’s a constant battle to keep on top of it all.

www.tayloredtrees.co.uk/what-do-you-need-1

My tree surgeon told me that my trees were fine so he pollarded one and left the other. Both trees were bothering my neighbour, not me.

I’ve never heard of any ‘tree surgeon’ saying any tree was healthy. Their income is cutting down trees.
How people hate a big tree which shades their house and drops leaves on it! Most new estates give every house a patch of grass surrounded by 6’ fencing.
The Toby Carvery lied about a report that said that magnificent oak was healthy and would live another 100 years. It was worth 100 of their nondescript cafes and I hope they are prosecuted and fined hugely.

NotSpaghetti. Thank you for the information. I'm a tree lover and wish to save and plant as many trees as possible.

I'd ask the Tree Officer to come and advise you.

A tree fell down on friends' roof during Storm Daragh, luckily no-one was hurt but they need a new roof.

Allira

MayBee70

GrannyGravy13

We had two Scots Pine trees at the front of our driveway, our insurance company advised us to get them removed, so that’s what we did.

It’s a conservation area and I’m not allowed to touch the tree in any way without permission. I need to get some of the branches removed because all the weight of the tree is on one side and that is the side that overhangs my house. My neighbours chimney crashed through his house many years ago: it could have killed him. The branches of the tree are very close to my chimney albeit not quite touching it. When the farmer removed a sycamore tree that was next to my garden he made me pay towards it. I was once refused insurance for my house because of the tree but switched to another company. I do worry that they would refuse to pay up if anything happened which is why I include legal cover in my policy. They were quite unpleasant when I made a claim due to a lightning strike: the first claim I’d ever made in nearly fifty years!

When the farmer removed a sycamore tree that was next to my garden he made me pay towards it.
He was bullying you, you should not have had to psy, Msybee.

This used to be a conservation area until fairly recently but the only trees with preservation orders on them were ones which were there before the houses were built; any put in by the builder or subsequently did not.
You could ask the Tree Officer at your County Council to come to look at it to see if it's safe. Is it on the farmer's land?

The fire brigade came round about something else (they fitted a new smoke alarm for me) and checked the tree out and said it looked ok. When I showed the broken branch to the farmer I knew that he had people working on some of the trees on his land at the time but he still didn’t offer to ask them to remove it. It’s just the sheer size of it and it sways so much in the wind. I saw the damage to property that fallen trees did during Storm Alma. It was heartbreaking to see so many trees down though.

MayBee70

GrannyGravy13

We had two Scots Pine trees at the front of our driveway, our insurance company advised us to get them removed, so that’s what we did.

It’s a conservation area and I’m not allowed to touch the tree in any way without permission. I need to get some of the branches removed because all the weight of the tree is on one side and that is the side that overhangs my house. My neighbours chimney crashed through his house many years ago: it could have killed him. The branches of the tree are very close to my chimney albeit not quite touching it. When the farmer removed a sycamore tree that was next to my garden he made me pay towards it. I was once refused insurance for my house because of the tree but switched to another company. I do worry that they would refuse to pay up if anything happened which is why I include legal cover in my policy. They were quite unpleasant when I made a claim due to a lightning strike: the first claim I’d ever made in nearly fifty years!

When the farmer removed a sycamore tree that was next to my garden he made me pay towards it.
He was bullying you, you should not have had to psy, Msybee.

This used to be a conservation area until fairly recently but the only trees with preservation orders on them were ones which were there before the houses were built; any put in by the builder or subsequently did not.
You could ask the Tree Officer at your County Council to come to look at it to see if it's safe. Is it on the farmer's land?

That really hits home, so many of these majestic old trees are silent witnesses to generations of life, memories, and change. What a loss, not just in beauty but in cultural and ecological value.

The sad thing is, when a tree like that is gone, it takes with it decades, sometimes centuries, of natural history. Horse chestnuts, especially, are more than ornamental; they support pollinators when in bloom, and their conkers have been part of countless childhoods. It’s not just a tree being cut down, it’s a living part of a community being erased.

That’s why stories like yours matter. They remind us how vital Tree Preservation Orders are, not only for safety concerns but for recognizing the emotional and environmental importance of these landmarks. A healthy, well-loved tree like that deserved to be protected, not just evaluated on risk, but on meaning.

Hopefully, your memory of it can spark more awareness and action in others before we lose more like it.

I try to pretend it’s not there!

GrannyGravy13

We had two Scots Pine trees at the front of our driveway, our insurance company advised us to get them removed, so that’s what we did.

It’s a conservation area and I’m not allowed to touch the tree in any way without permission. I need to get some of the branches removed because all the weight of the tree is on one side and that is the side that overhangs my house. My neighbours chimney crashed through his house many years ago: it could have killed him. The branches of the tree are very close to my chimney albeit not quite touching it. When the farmer removed a sycamore tree that was next to my garden he made me pay towards it. I was once refused insurance for my house because of the tree but switched to another company. I do worry that they would refuse to pay up if anything happened which is why I include legal cover in my policy. They were quite unpleasant when I made a claim due to a lightning strike: the first claim I’d ever made in nearly fifty years!

Granny Gravy,

I am really sorry to read your story. Prudence sometimes cannot coexist with beauty.

Yes, MayBe.I understand. Everything is relative, a matter of degree.

We had two Scots Pine trees at the front of our driveway, our insurance company advised us to get them removed, so that’s what we did.

Caleo

What's the matter with that? Is the car's suspension complaining?

The bricks are lifting and crumbling. It’s a trip hazard. The very same roots are probably doing the same to the foundations of my house. If you lived in my house and saw that tree towering over it and swaying in the sort of violent winds we now have I think you’d be as worried as me. A house would not be allowed to be built that close to a tree that size now. It’s going to cause a problem if and when I have to downsize. As for the chassis of my car I’ve just paid £2,000 to have it repaired. And I have to scrape moss off it on a regular basis because of it being in permanent damp shade.

What's the matter with that? Is the car's suspension complaining?

Caleo

MayBe, I understand the Scots pine generally is a well -rooted tree with secure branches.

It’s certainly well rooted because the roots are lifting up my driveway!

Grammaretto, the size increases exponentially. It won't be more than a few years until it's big enough for a small child to climb into it. And by that time the higher branches will not be grazed by deer.

MayBe, I understand the Scots pine generally is a well -rooted tree with secure branches.