US Edition
Landowner accused of illegally chopping over 100 trees ordered to replant them
Prince Choudary ordered by a London council to rewild woodland after conservationists claimed 131 oaks were felled
A landowner accused of cutting down more than 100 trees illegally has been ordered to replant them.
Conservationists claimed that 131 trees were felled in the woodland adjacent to Cator Park in Bromley, south-east London, as part of plans to transform it into sports pitches for the local community.
But Prince Choudary, the leaseholder, insisted that barely 40 oak trees were removed before the local council issued tree preservation orders (TPOs).
Bromley Council has now demanded that he replant them to help preserve a mini woodland, calling the affair “desperately sad”.
The row became so toxic that Mr Choudary claimed that local residents threatened to set their dogs on him, as he accused them of trying to scare him away so they could walk their dogs freely on the grassland.
Speaking to Sky News at the site, flanked by a security guard for his safety, he said that children need outdoor spaces to play football because his indoor academy in Camberwell, six miles north of Cator Park, has run out of space.
“All these trees that have been cut down were going to be replanted on the side to make it more beautiful. We wanted a nice sports pitch in the middle and two small pitches on the side,” he said.
Hopeson Group Limited, the company which owns the land, said the lease was “granted with a view to create sports facilities for participants of all ages”.
Anna Taylor, the director of the conservation group CPRE, insisted that Mr Choudary can now “never develop it or use it for any income-generating purpose and hopefully (release) this land – hopefully to someone like a philanthropist or an environmental body”.
Ricardo Gama, a senior associate solicitor at Leigh Day, said: “It’s becoming more common for these sorts of issues to arise” as councils often issue TPOs before a landowner is made aware.
“As people start to realise the value of trees and communities wake up to the value of trees, they’re taking steps to protect trees, to process, to campaign and to look into legal issues,” he told the broadcaster.
A Bromley Council spokesman said: “As part of our robust and methodological response to this desperately sad incident, we have now also notified the landowner of a legal requirement to replant oak trees on this much loved, mini woodland site.”
The latest tree row came after Plymouth City Council was criticised for felling 110 mature trees in a midnight operation, which sparked a High Court battle and forced Richard Bingley, the council leader, to quit.
In June, Sheffield City Council wrote a four-page apology for felling thousands of healthy trees and how it handled protests against cutting them down.