We are deeply shocked and upset to learn that @HS2ltd felled the #CubbingtonPearTree today. There is no replacing the centuries of history and beauty that this tree has given to the Cubbington area. Our sympathies go out to local people and all tree-lovers.
Read on 👇
Voted as our Tree of the Year in 2015, this 200 year old tree is a much loved local landmark. Ourselves and our supporters, as well as many other local campaigners, had lobbied for the tree to be saved.
The Government's response to a public petition to save it said “the stump and rooting structure would be relocated providing an opportunity for the parent tree to regrow or ‘coppice’”. Yet this hasn't happened.
When we told HS2 of our concerns about the complications of coppicing and moving the #CubbingtonPearTree as it is, in fact, hollow, we were surprised that they told us that it would be felled and used as deadwood.
This is in contradiction to what the Government told the public would happen. @HS2ltd and @transportgovuk
should be held to account for misleading the public in this way.
Today’s #HS2 announcement shows that our expert opinion, that of other NGOs, and the concerns of the public worried about the destruction of the irreplaceable habitat, has been utterly disregarded.
“The Government is riding roughshod over its own environmental ambitions and ignoring lessons learned from the past, by allowing destruction of #AncientWoodland and other important habitats on this scale." - @AdamCormack_#HS2