Court victory over loss of Dales sycamore ‘is warning for others’
NATIONAL PARK chiefs have warned they will pursue anyone who is caught removing trees illegally through the courts after securing a successful prosecution against two men who chopped down a landmark sycamore in the Yorkshire Dales.
Neil Dinsdale and Edward Fox entered guilty pleas yesterday at York Magistrates’ Court after being charged with the unauthorised destruction of a tree on their land by the Pennine Way in a Conservation Area in the Yorkshire Dales National Park.
Mr Dinsdale, of The Hill, Hawes, appeared in court, but Mr Fox, also of The Hill, Hawes, did not attend. They were fined £250 each for breaching section 211 of the Town and Country Planning Act.
The court also ordered them to pay the £2,400 legal costs incurred by the local planning authority,
the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority.
The authority’s member champion for development management, Jim Munday, said: “Local people in Gayle and Hawes were upset by the totally unnecessary felling of this healthy mature sycamore tree.
“It was part of the character of the area and greatly enhanced the local environment.
“I hope this case serves to underline that trees in conservation areas are protected – and that the Park authority will prosecute landowners who cut them down without any consultation or consideration.”
Magistrates were also due to hear a case relating to the felling of a tree in the Dent Conservation Area. However, that case has been adjourned until January.
The felling of the perfectly healthy sycamore tree on Gayle Lane in the Gayle Conservation Area in April was reported to National Park officials by the thenchairman of Hawes and High Abbotside Parish Council, the late John Blackie, who said local communities were “very cross” about what had happened. The court heard that Mr Dinsdale had been advised to remove the tree as it might restrict development.