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

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.”

Sky News understands the Metropolitan Police found no evidence of criminality and has closed its investigation.

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.

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 Sky News: “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.”

Mr Cormack said he would like to ask the company if alternatives were considered to felling, “and if not, why not?”.

On Monday, the Tree Council and Forest Research published a report calling for a “robust and effective system” to protect England’s most important trees following the Sycamore Gap tree felling in September 2023.

The trial of the two men, charged in connection with the felling, is due to take place later this month at Newcastle Crown Court.

Read more from Sky News:
Shoots grow from Sycamore Gap stump
King receives seedlings from felled tree
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Ed Allnut, Enfield resident and secretary of the Guardians of Whitewebbs group, said: “The tree belonged to Enfield and to our national heritage. I am personally devastated.

“We want answers, and we want guarantees the other trees here are being protected properly.”

Oak trees are valuable for UK wildlife, supporting thousands of species as well as capturing carbon from the atmosphere.