Felled Enfield oak ‘had hundreds of years to live’
An ancient oak felled in a north London park by Toby Carvery’s owners was healthy and could have lived “for another few hundred years”, 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 on 3 April “to protect our employees and guests as well as the wider general public”.
An Enfield Council planning document from March 2024 found that the pedunculate oak, on the edge of Whitewebbs Park, was a “fine specimen” with high ecological and landscape value.
Ergin Erbil, leader of Enfield Council, described the felling as “an outrage” and said the authority was “looking at all legal options”.
He said: “Our experts surveyed this tree in December and they said it’s healthy and could live another few hundred years so I completely oppose the argument from the leaseholder that this posed a health and safety risk.”
Source: BBC | Language: English