An ancient oak that was felled by the owners of Toby Carvery could have lived for “another few hundred years”, the outraged head of the local council claims as he vows legal action.
Reports were made to Enfield Council in London earlier this month after a roughly 400-year-old oak tree on the edge of Whitewebbs Park, in the north of the capital, was felled. The tree was thought to be in the top 100 of London’s 600,000 oak trees in terms of its size, and was believed to have “more ecological value than the Sycamore Gap”.
Hospitality group Mitchells and Butlers, which operates the Whitewebbs House Toby Carvery on parkland owned by the council, owned up to chopping down the ancient oak, saying they were advised by arboriculture experts that it caused a “serious health and safety risk”.
Mitchells and Butlers said they had been told the tree was dead and cut the tree down as 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.”
But Enfield Council leader Ergin Erbil said the ancient oak was not only alive, it could have lived “for another few hundred years”.
“I completely oppose the argument from the leaseholder that this posed a health and safety risk,” Mr Erbil told the BBC.
In a statement to The Independent, Mr Erbil said that the council was seeking advice to take appropriate legal action against the hospitality group for violating the terms of their leasehold.
“I am outraged that the leaseholder has cut down this beautiful ancient oak tree without seeking any permissions or advice from Enfield Council,” he said.
“We have evidence that this tree was alive and starting to grow new spring leaves when this action was taken. Our team of experts checked the tree in December 2024 and found it was healthy and posed no risk to the neighbouring car park and its users.”
The police received a report of criminal damage to the tree on Saturday. After making enquiries, they found no evidence of criminality and closed their investigation on Tuesday, treating it as a civil matter.
Mr Erbil said: “As the land owner, we believe this action has broken the terms of the lease, which requires Toby Carvery to maintain and protect the existing landscape. The tree was the oldest one on site and cutting it down seems to be a clear breach of this condition.
“This tree would have been home to countless wildlife, fungi, and pollinators. This tree is a part of our ecological and cultural heritage.
“We’re therefore seeking advice and will take appropriate legal action. If any criminal activity is found during our investigation, we will not hesitate to report this to the police again.
“As the tree shows clear signs of life, we will also do everything we can to help the tree regrow.”
Mitchells and Butlers CEO Phil Urban sent an open letter apologising for the anger and upset caused by the incident.
“As a business and more importantly as human beings, we are obliged to act on all health and safety issues where expert advice warns us of a direct risk to life or serious injury. The penalties, legally, financially and more importantly, emotionally, for failing to do that when something subsequently happens, are too great to contemplate.
“We cannot undo what has been done, and none of us will ever know whether the felling of this beautiful old tree has prevented a future tragedy,” he said, adding that the company had tried to be “good neighbours” by planting over 90,000 trees so far since 2022 along with its partners.
The company said it would complete a thorough review to ensure that in the future, “exceptional situations are treated differently to the more regular health and safety issues that arise on a day-to-day basis”.
Mr Urban then said that someone on social media had been claiming to be a Toby Carvery manager and using “distasteful social media dialogue” surrounding the incident. He said the individual was not a Mitchells and Butlers employee, and that this was an example of social media trolling.
The felling of the tree has “devastated” the local community, who told The Independent they feared what it might mean for the rest of the park.
Sean Wilkinson, who has lived in the area since 1980 and chairs Friends of Whitewebbs Park, called the felling “an absolute piece of vandalism”.
He added: “It was a disgrace, and it’s symbolic of the lack of care that’s been put into the environment of this park.”
Vicky Gardner, who has lived in Enfield for 55 years, said she was “devastated” by the felling of the tree.
“It’s such a shame, I think it’s so typical of the behaviour of some of these organisations,” she said. “They don’t think about their actions, they don’t think about the consequences, and I do wonder where they got their information from.”
Sue Barrett, an Enfield resident since 1990, was “absolutely appalled” by what happened to the ancient oak.
“Any decent tree surgeon would have known you don’t cut down trees like that. It’s an oak tree, and it’s an ancient oak tree. Anybody worth their salt would know,” she said. “It wasn’t doing anybody any harm. None whatsoever. It was a beautiful tree, and they preserved the stump. I think that’s an insult, don’t you?”
She said that the park had been a “saviour” to the local community because it became a hub for people to meet together.
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