On 19 May 2023 Haringey Council is due to decide if this healthy veteran protected tree should be cut down. We urgently call on:

1. the council to refuse to allow the tree to be cut down, and
2. the parties and insurers concerned to seek alternative and less destructive ways forward, and stop the disproportionate and wasteful felling of this irreplaceable tree.

Background
The Scout Park in Bounds Green, north London, has since 1927 provided a safe green space in which children can play; a welcoming habitat for its resident and visiting wildlife populations; and an oasis of nature for all who visit, or who work or live in the area. Haringey Council has formally designated the Park a Grade 1 Site of Importance for Nature
Conservation, but worryingly the Council has recently been asked (under planning application HGY/2023/0827) to consent to the felling of this fantastic 17 metre oak tree.

Growing at the Park’s perimeter, the oak can be directly seen and enjoyed not only by users of the park but also by neighbours and passers-by.
With its thriving 19-metre crown this oak, which is estimated to be over 200 years old and could live another 800, has been protected by a Haringey Tree Preservation Order since 2010.

It is now claimed that 4mm diameter roots belonging to this tree are causing ‘slight’ cracks to the extension of a 1930s residential property, which is built on London clay soil over 18 metres away from the tree’s base. There is no clear evidence that the tree is the main reason for this subsidence, and there are other important factors such as the clay soil and dry summers which have not been investigated. Added to this, there is a range of alternative action that could be taken, which includes root barriers, crown reduction, and sufficient underpinning. 

The negative impacts of the destruction of the tree including heightened local flood risk, heave and increased subsidence, and damage to the mental and physical wellbeing of young people, Scouts and the wider community.
In addition, a single oak is known to support 2,300 species of wildlife, over 200 species are rarely found other than on oak, and more than 300 species are entirely reliant on these trees for their survival. Trees are vital to help us tackle the climate emergency by reducing carbon in our atmosphere. Haringey Council’s Tree and Woodland policy, which it adopted in September 2022, correctly recognises many of the positive impacts, measurable and otherwise, that all trees have on the environment, and notes that mature broad-canopy trees play a far greater role than other trees in improving air quality, decreasing the risk of flooding and sequestering carbon.
In publicising its new trees policy the Council said that it has a “clear expectation of developers to retain and protect mature and veteran trees rather than fell or damage them.”

This petition urgently calls on:

1. Haringey Council to follow the letter and spirit of that statement and their policy, act to combat the global environmental and local biodiversity crises, and refuse the application, and
2. the parties and insurers to abandon attempts to fell the tree and instead pursue alternative and less destructive ways forward.

And:

1. Haringey Council to sign up to the Joint Mitigation Protocol along with other London councils who work with insurers to protect trees.

Signatories of this petition are encouraged to:

1. If you are resident in the Borough, email your Haringey Councillor;
2. Make representations to the local MP by email to catherine.west.mp@parliament.uk; 
3. Comment on the Planning Application online portal;
4. Share this petition with others.

Please act now to help safeguard this tree by signing the petition.