120-year-old tree saved after neighbour gets last-minute injunction against council

Stephen Evans, barrister for Haringey Council, said until the judgment Mr Brenner did not indicate to the council that he wished the tree to remain or had “any difficulty with the council’s decision to fell it”.

But Mr Streeton added that Mr Brenner contacted Haringey councillor, Mike Hakata, and had been told his email had been sent to the legal teams.

He said the council had never sent confirmation to its legal team that it would not fell the tree, and Mr Brenner did not know if the council would wait.

Mr Streeton also said the “nub” of his client’s complaint was that the financial ombudsman looking into subsidence issues in Mr Brenner’s home was waiting for Aviva to respond in order to submit its report.

He said: “Aviva has held up that response and that’s where the delay is coming from.”

Mr Brenner’s last-minute move came as a surprise for those protesting the tree being cut down.

‘Mature trees are being neglected’

Ms Iozzi, 49, added: “I didn’t expect it. It came at the very last hour. But I think that desperate measures ask for desperate actions. We’re all so shocked.”

Mr Evans said the council had put a notice on the tree last April but had been stopped from felling it by protestors, which was why in December it sought its injunction to stop them.

He said a financial ombudsman report would look at engineering evidence.

Mr Evans added that if there were any previous reports sought by Mr Brenner and his next-door neighbour against the felling of the tree, “we haven’t seen them”.

He continued: “The council’s decision is made on sound grounds.”

Mr Evans also urged Deputy High Court Judge Dan Squires KC, to regard the “grave financial inconvenience to the council if the injunction wasn’t dismissed”.

The judge handed down the judgment on Friday stating that the injunction will stand until a follow-up hearing.