Activists have ramped up the fight for an “utterly irreplaceable” tree in Grove Park by staging an occupation of the 70-year-old London plane.

The fight for the tree on Senlac Road began in July last year and the petition to save it has recently reached 46,000 signatures. Last week activists began taking direct action by camping outside the tree.

Subsidence was first reported in 2011 and measures have been taken to prevent it being felled, such as cutting down branches and leaves by 50 per cent to reduce the moisture it requires. In July 2021 it was decided the tree could not be saved.

A statement from Lewisham Council said: “We have explored all possible options for retaining the tree on Senlac Road but have reached the conclusion that moving the tree is the only viable option at this stage.” The council promised to plant 17 trees as compensation.

Anna Moore, a resident who started the campaign to save the tree, said: “It is the last mature tree on this busy road… Removing it would mean there is no shade and no green in this area.”

On Thursday last week Moore organised an occupation of the tree as a result of the lack of adequate response from the council to the “dozens of letters” sent by the activists.

Moore said: “The foundation of this campaign is that councillors are only thinking about short term funding… but nobody apart from us is thinking about the long term value of this tree.”

“We’ve been getting down there super early in the morning to make sure that if anybody comes we just stay in the car… if you stay in the car under the tree they can’t do any work.”

Volunteers have convened through Whatsapp groups organised by Moore. Harold Halford, an activist who decided to sit with the tree during the day, said: “it’s representative of how people feel, they’re disempowered in every part of their lives but here they can do something.”

According to the Environment Agency, mature trees benefit the physical and mental well-being of residents by removing air pollution, reducing noise and flood risk, and providing shade and wildlife habitation.

However, the council have a legal liability to the insurance company “to prevent damage to private property near council-managed trees” and they also must minimise financial risk due to budget pressures.

Moore claims there has been a lack of transparency from the council, as they have not released the report which the insurer’s claims are based on: “They’ve told us nothing… we’ve sent Freedom of Information Requests, but we can’t see the responses because of General Data Protection Regulation, but it’s unclear to me what personal information is there.”

Moore says this is part of a pattern from the council, as trees have previously been cut down on the street without consultation.

She said that a similar tree was cut down a road over without consultation last week: “Nobody knows why. [The] biggest tree on the street, no notice, it’s just down.”

Lewisham Council have cut down 110 mature trees for insurance purposes alone in the last five years, according to Climate Action Lewisham.

The family whose house has been damaged by the tree want it to be felled and told MyLondon: “The tree is not suited to a residential area.” When ELL asked the neighbouring house about the tree they declined to comment saying the topic “is too sensitive.”

While Moore sympathises with the residents whose property has been damaged, she says it is a larger issue: “The council is saying it’s operating within the law… we want to work with them to show that it is wrong…. the law favours killing things.”

Paul Powlesland, a barrister and climate activist who has been offering advice on similar cases throughout the UK, said the Senlac Road tree is not a one off case.

He said that insurance companies “shift the blame onto the council and trees to get them removed, discharging their basic responsibilities” and then “trees are automatically disposed because the council don’t want to take the risk.”  

He said transparency is also a reoccurring issue: “Local people who want to try and save to tree have no way of actually checking what the insurer is saying is true.”

“If the residence were to see the report about the tree, and were able to get their own report there have been many instances of independent tree specialists saying ‘well actually no this tree is not causing this problem’ [and that] removing the tree might cause other problems.”

Moore said the protestors would not leave “until this is over.”