Tree battle ends in a climbdown but not a surrender

Wrought with anger and disbelief, Vikki “Beechnut” Welsh and campaigning villagers vowed the battle had not been lost and pledged to help other communities fight to save their most treasured landmarks.

Wearily climbing down the ladder yesterday after spending four nights amongst its branches, the teenager addressed the gathering crowd as the sound of a chainsaw broke the silence of the peaceful village of Irton.

Struggling to contain her emotion, she said: “It’s been a real journey. It’s just really sad, but we are going to ensure this won’t happen again. I think we have just got to accept that there’s just nothing really more we can do for this particular tree, but there are things we can do to ensure in the future that it will be positive for more trees.”

Miss Welsh described her descent from the tree as a harrowing moment but insisted the sit-in had been worthwhile. “There’s always a positive. What we have learned from this is we can apply it to other trees and we hope that in the future we can make a difference.”

Her defiant speech was met with a round of applause as villagers took it in turns to comfort her when the contractors moved in.

In moving scenes, tearful residents embraced and silently shook their heads in disbelief as they watched the first branches of the landmark tree crash to earth.

Campaigner David Parker said: “I’m disappointed, dismayed and extremely angry about the way it’s been handled. I think there have been half truths and I don’t think the whole story has been told. But we fought to the end.

“I’m proud of everything everybody has done during this campaign. The people who have stayed in the tree have highlighted this issue and beamed it across the globe and a lot of good is coming out of this. It may seem just a tree to some but that tree represents thousands of others. I hope this doesn’t set a precedence for other trees that have tree preservation orders on them. Does this now mean that any Tom, Dick and Harry can ride through it with a bulldozer? I fear this will happen because of this action today.”

Mr Parker refused to lay the blame on the contractors, who carried out the work under police guard. “It’s the men in expensive suits behind closed doors – fat cats on high wages. Villagers have had little in their defence other than belief,” he said.

It was a day the residents of the picturesque village hoped would never come. As the barriers went up yesterday morning, campaigners knew the fate of the historic tree had been sealed.

And when Miss Welsh finally accepted defeat after police officers pleaded for her to come down, all villagers could do was stand and watch as the chainsaws were fired up.

It was an emotional end to a five-year battle which has cost the taxpayers £250,000 and has resulted in a bitter dispute between two councils. At the root of the battle was the historic tree, that towered above Main Street, which sparked a long-running feud between campaigning residents and the owners of a nearby property who had been fighting to get it chopped down on safety grounds, amid fears over damage to drains and a wall.

Campaigners, however, who launched a petition to save it, maintained the loss of the healthy tree would have a devastating effect on the village’s environment. Two weeks ago contractors moved in to fell the beech following an order from a county court judge, who branded it a public nuisance. The argument went to court following an attempt by North Yorkshire County Council to have the tree felled when Scarborough Council refused to remove a tree preservation order, claiming its loss would “result in serious harm to the character of the village”.

Then, as the axe was about to fall one Scarborough resident, Mark “Snoz” Snow, decided to take a stand by tying himself to its trunk. Four protesters followed despite the High Court issuing an injunction last week, stating the tree would be felled and anyone found near it could face jail.

Desperate to save the natural landmark, campaigners have staged a number of last-ditch attempts to stop the tree from being felled.

But despite their efforts to exploit a legal loophole, contractors began cutting down the tree just before 11am.

As the sun set over Irton yesterday, all that remained of the once flourishing beech was its trunk and bare branches.

Mr Parker said: “We did ask the county council if we could keep some of the trunk for use within the village but they can stuff the tree we don’t want it. It only brings bad memories to us.”