Friday, 18 April 2025

Nature doesn't have a voice – but the public does

Holcim UK is in a bind with its proposed road modifications for Birdcage Lane. The planned modifications for the lane – required to facilitate access to the permitted quarry at Straitgate Farm for up to 200 HGV movements a day – are restricted by two majestic oaks, both protected by a Tree Preservation Order. 
The trees contribute to the amenity and character of the area and they are considered under threat from development and the impact of heavy machinery and vehicles.
Last August, we posted that almost 10 years on, Aggregate Industries is still struggling to produce a workable site access plan. Eight months further on, Devon County Council has confirmed that the company – now rebadged Holcim UK – has still not submitted the requested set of revised plans. 

Should the company be at all minded to allow these plans to risk harming the two notable oaks, sitting next to the lane and either side of its proposed entrance, it might consider the national fury that Toby Carvery rightfully received this week after felling a 500-year-old oak in Whitewebbs Park – see below. 

Toby Carvery, owned by Mitchells & Butlers, is now threatened with legal action from Enfield Council: 
The council had reported Toby Carvery to the Metropolitan police, but officers decided to take no further action as there was no preservation order on the tree. 
The Woodland Trust’s senior conservation adviser for trees, is quoted as saying: 
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. 

Ancient oaks are particularly rich in biodiversity, with habitats that take centuries to develop. They simply can’t be replaced by younger trees and can’t be replaced quickly.

Some of the biodiversity associated with ancient trees, like the Whitewebbs oak, is among the most threatened in Europe. 
Mitchells & Butlers apologised, and admitted "we need to tighten our protocols". No shit, Sherlock. 

The Whitewebbs oak had no tree preservation order. The two oaks at risk on Birdcage Lane do. The Woodland Trust says: 
Failure to obtain permission before carrying out work on a protected tree can result in prosecution, with fines of up to £20,000 in a magistrates’ court. Serious cases may be taken to trial in the crown court and offenders could face an unlimited fine if convicted.
Toby Carvery will no doubt be licking its wounds now, asking itself – too late of course – whether its PR disaster, and the subsequent damage to its corporate image and bottom line, was worth it. Reputations, as the company has found out, can be trashed overnight. 

Toby Carvery clearly missed the memo on corporate responsibility – in other words, responsibility for the landscape occupied, the heritage inherited and the communities served. Corporate responsibility does not stop at recycling bins and plant-based menus, or, for that matter, quarry liaison meetings and Quarry Keep Out signs. When companies brag about sustainability, community ties and green values – actions matter. The public has demonstrated that it won’t sit quietly by whilst corporates vandalise our natural history. Nature doesn't have a voice – but the public does. 

Of course, Holcim UK wouldn’t dream of harming two veteran oaks trees, would it? Because, you cannot preach sustainability whilst cutting down history.

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