‘Majestic’ Hoo oak trees face the axe: petition launched to save them

Chopping ‘would fly in the face of Medway Council’s climate emergency declaration’

A campaign has been launched to save a line of protected trees on Medway’s Hoo peninsula.

Michael Pearce, a local councillor, has set up a petition to protect “more than a dozen majestic and magnificent oak trees” threatened by felling.

The oaks, west of Aveling Close and Knights Road, Hoo, are protected by Tree Preservation Orders and belong to Medway Council.

Cllr Pearce says on his petition page: “Tree Preservation Orders (TPOs) are used to protect selected trees and woodlands if their removal would have a significant negative impact on the local environment and its enjoyment by the public. The protection is used to bring a reasonable degree of public benefit in the present or future.”

Despite such protection, the insurers of two properties near the oaks have applied for permission to axe several of them, citing the issue of subsidence.

Cllr Pearce states that “very little evidence has been provided to substantiate this” and wants an independent expert to investigate the alleged subsidence, scrutinise the evidence and decide if the felling of the oaks is “an appropriate and proportionate outcome”.

“I believe the felling of these oaks is completely unjustified,” says Cllr Pearce, a volunteer tree warden for Hoo and Chattenden. He notes that the felling of the oaks would “would fly in the face” of Medway Council’s climate emergency declaration.

His petition is calling for:

1. An independent investigation into the alleged subsidence, to scrutinise the evidence and to decide if the felling of these protected oak trees is an appropriate and proportionate outcome.

2. The Local Planning Authority (LPA) to object to any further applications to fell these protected oak trees.

3. Medway Council, as owner of these protected oak trees, to refuse permission for them to be felled.

Cllr Pearce concludes: “It’s within Medway Council’s power to stop this environmental vandalism and to protect wildlife and our local landscape. I believe the felling of these protected oak trees would be unprecedented for the authority.”

• To sign the petition, click here