Trees axed ‘to boost £1.2m home’
A MILLIONAIRE added £100,000 to the value of his luxury holiday home by butchering two protected trees in his garden, a court heard.
Trevor Beale had the mature Scots pines hacked back to increase natural light on the patio and two balconies at the back of his house at exclusive Sandbanks in Poole Harbour, Dorset, it is claimed.
Several branches were axed, leaving the canopies of the 60ft trees almost bare.
The two pines were subject to Tree Preservation Orders and Beale should have sought permission from the local authority before carrying out any work. The 58-yearold had pleaded guilty to two charges of
Trevor Beale pleaded guilty contravening tree preservation regulations at a previous hearing. Confiscation proceedings have now begun at Bournemouth Crown Court in relation to the increase in value which the work had on the £1.2million five-bedroom house. Two surveyors estimated the benefit was £60,000-£100,000. This figure is disputed by Beale, who claims uncertainty over Brexit makes an accurate valuation difficult. The businessman lets out the house, called Allure, for up to £4,800 a week in the summer months.
Tom Horder, on behalf of Poole Borough Council, said Beale had hired a tree surgeon to carry out legitimate work on a storm-damaged tree in the front garden on January 24 last year. Mr Horder said: “Our case is that he used the opportunity to destroy to a large extent the canopies of two trees at the rear of the house.
“We say this was a deliberate act to improve the rear of the house and let in the light.”
Mark Russell, mitigating, said the tree surgeon was responsible for the over-zealous work. He said Beale denied the motive was to add light and value to the property.
He said: “It is a £1.2 million house – for anyone to say it has gone up by £60,000 is a drop in the ocean.”
Mr Russell asked that a surveyor looked at the value of the property later in the year due to Brexit.
But judge Jonathan Fuller QC rejected this, ordering the valuation to be done by the end of April.
The house sits in the middle of the Sandbanks peninsula, close to the home of former football manager Harry Redknapp.
Beale’s case will return to court in September.