Felled Enfield oak 'had hundreds of years to live'

An ancient oak felled in a north London park on the order of Toby Carvery's owners was healthy and could have lived "for another few hundred years", the leader of the local council has said.

Pub chain Mitchells & Butlers (M&B) said on Tuesday it was responsible for chopping down the 500-year-old tree, "to protect our employees and guests as well as the wider general public".

An Enfield Council planning document from March 2024 stated that the pedunculate oak was a "fine specimen" with high ecological and landscape value and had a life expectancy of at least 50 years.

But council leader Ergin Erbil said a more recent inspection found the tree could have lived for several more centuries.

He said: "Our experts surveyed this tree in December and they said it's healthy... so I completely oppose the argument from the leaseholder that this posed a health and safety risk."

Describing the felling of the tree as an "outrage", Mr Erbil added that M&B "did not consult us as the landowner, and they should have". The oak, which was cut down on 3 April, was located on the edge of council-owned Whitewebbs Park and overlooked a Toby Carvery.

Enfield Council said on Tuesday it had reported the felling as a case of criminal damage to the Met Police, which is understood to have closed its inquiry, deeming it a civil matter.

The planning document, based on a November 2023 inspection, stated that the tree was in "moderate good" condition and recommended a "light reduction of the upper crown on [the] north side".

On Tuesday, an M&B source initially said that the company had approved the cutting down of the oak after being told the tree was dead.

In an official statement hours later, M&B stated it had received advice from contractors, who said "the split and dead wood posed a serious health and safety risk".

M&B subsequently removed this statement in a further update, but maintained it had taken "necessary measures to ensure any legal requirements were met".

The BBC has asked the company for information about the contractor that cut down the tree. M&B has not provided this and has also declined the BBC's request for an interview.

Dr Ed Pyne, senior conservation adviser for trees at the Woodland Trust, said of the cutting down of the oak: "I couldn't quite believe it, to be honest.

"I've been working with trees in various capacities now as an arborist, as an academic for close to 14 years and in all that time I don't think I've seen a tree-felling as shocking as this."

The tree, with a girth of 6m (20ft), was a nationally significant pedunculate oak listed on the Woodland Trust's ancient tree inventory.

News of the destruction of the oak came just two days after a report from the charity Tree Council and the Forest Research organisation warned that trees were only indirectly protected, with some "significant legal gaps".

It recommended the development of a "robust and effective system" to ensure they were safeguarded.

The Enfield oak was worth £1m, according to tree valuer Russell Miller, who made his estimate using the Capital Asset Value for Amenity Trees system.

Mr Miller said it was "much older and much more valuable" than the Sycamore Gap tree cut down in Northumberland in 2023.

He added: "This tree is designated... as an irreplaceable habitat because it's got decay features and habitats within it that you cannot replace within hundreds of years.

"In addition to the sorts of species that people are familiar with, like bats and owls that live in these trees, you've got thousands of species of invertebrate.

"You've got lots of different niches for lots of different species inside the tree, and that's why they're so special."

A spokesperson for M&B said: "The tree was cut back after we were advised by our specialist arboriculture contractors that it caused a potential health and safety risk.

"This was an important action to protect our employees and guests as well as the wider general public, to whom we have a duty of care.

"We took necessary measures to ensure any legal requirements were met. We are grateful to our specialist arboriculture contractors for warning us of this potential health and safety risk, allowing us to act swiftly to address it."

Additional reporting by James Kelly and Gem O'Reilly

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