Toby Carvery criticised for felling ancient oak tree as council reports incident to police

Cliff Notes

An ancient oak tree over 400 years old was felled in Whitewebbs Park, Enfield, after being deemed a health and safety risk by its parent company, Mitchells & Butlers.
The local council disputed the legality of the felling, asserting they are treating it as criminal damage and have instituted a Tree Preservation Order on the site.
Locals and conservationists expressed outrage, emphasising the tree’s ecological value and the need for protective measures for remaining trees in the area.

Toby Carvery criticised for felling ancient oak tree – as council reports incident to police | UK News

An ancient oak tree thought to be more than 400 years old has been cut down in what has been called a “depressing” and “devastating” incident in north London.

The remains of the trunk, surrounded by its severed branches, were discovered by council workers on 3 April in Whitewebbs Park, Enfield.

The tree was on the border of a car park for a Toby Carvery restaurant. On Tuesday, it was confirmed by the chain’s parent company, Mitchells & Butlers, that specialists advised them the tree was “a potential health and safety risk” and had been “cut back”.

“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,” it said.

“We took necessary measures to ensure any legal requirements were met.”

Investigators established the tree was not subject to any preservation orders before it was felled.

Earlier, the local council said it held a different opinion about whether the correct permission had been sought.

Ergin Erbil, leader of Enfield Council, said: “We are treating the matter as criminal damage and have reported it to the police.

“We’ve now placed a legal protection (Tree Preservation Order) on the tree and are looking at ways to help it grow back.”

The tree, which had a girth of 6.1m, was thought to be in the top 100 of London‘s 600,000 oak trees in terms of its size.

Locals mourn ‘beating heart of the forest’

Its former glory is gone: chunks of branches strewn on the ground around it, its thick rings exposed like severed limbs.

Although this oak has not starred in a Hollywood film, it is beloved by locals and vitally important to the ecosystem.

It is at this time in its life that an oak tree becomes so important for wildlife. As it dies back and hollows out, it provides home to bats and bees that wouldn’t nest in trunks rotting into the ground.

“It’s really that mix of living and dead [wood] that makes it so valuable,” Ed Alnut from Guardians of Whitewebbs told me.

“It’s kind of like a beating heart of the forest, that is able to be a home to a lot of different animals and plants.

“And now unfortunately that heartbeat has stopped, and it’s lying in pieces on the ground.”

Enfield Council has now put a tree preservation order in place, in the hope that they can protect what remains of its towering torso.

Ed Allnutt and other “devastated” locals want to root out all the extra details to try to protect fellow trees in this rich, rare and ancient forest.

Ed Pyne, Woodland Trust senior conservation adviser for trees, said: “This is the most shocking fell I think I’ve ever seen in more than a decade working with ancient trees.

“In my view, and the view of many others, this is ecologically much more significant than the Sycamore Gap – and certainly a more irreplaceable tree.”

The head of campaigning at The Woodland Trust is calling for Toby Carvery’s partner company, Mitchells & Butlers, to provide more information on the advice it received before the tree was cut down.

Adam Cormack told a UK News outlet: “It wasn’t dead because we found buds of leaves growing on the remains of branches that have been cut off the tree. The tree was very much alive.

“There might be information that Toby Carvery has that we don’t have access to but there are other alternatives to felling, like rerouting people around,” he explained. “That’s to reduce the health and safety risk and enable important trees to live on.”

An ancient oak tree over 400 years old was felled in Whitewebbs Park, Enfield, after being deemed a health and safety risk by its parent company, Mitchells & Butlers.