Mum-of-four forced to pay £116,000 TEN YEARS after chopping down tree outside her home when council noticed
A WOMAN has been fined £116,000 for chopping down a tree over ten years ago.
Claire Rands, of Allt-yr-Yn, Newport in Wales, hadn’t realised she was doing anything wrong.
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She had instructed a tree surgeon to chop down the tree after a number of serious grass fires behind the houses in the cul-de-sac.
It left her concerned that the tree could pose a fire hazard.
The mother-of-four took a precautionary measure and had the tree chopped down in 2012.
At the time, she hadn’t realised the 100-year-old lime tree would land her a colossal fine.
In articles in the South Wales Argus and the Telegraph the same year, the couple said that their tree had caught alight during the summer.
Claire said it was the result of alleged deliberate grass fires that had spread.
Several neighbours were also impacted by the fires.
It prompted Claire and her husband to file a planning application that would enable them to chop the tree down.
This required a legally-binding tree preservation order (TPO) to be lifted.
It prohibits the cutting down, topping, lopping, uprooting or wilful damage or destruction of trees without explicit consent of the local planning authority, even on private land.
The couple’s lime tree was protected because of its age and amenity value.
However, the couple chopped the tree down despite the planning applications not being approved.
They planted another tree in its place.
The council said that one of its ecologists was walking past the property when they noticed the tree was no longer there.
Recently, Newport City Council sent the couple a letter saying they would be prosecuted for causing or permitting the destruction of a tree protected by a TPO.
While husband Damon Rands was cleared of wrongdoing, it resulted in a trial at Newport Magistrates’ Court for Claire.
Yesterday, Claire lost her appeal and was sentenced.
It followed a long dispute over the TPO’s wording, with Claire’s lawyers arguing that the crime is written into law in England, and not Wales.
Instead, they argued she should be convicted of a lesser offence, as she didn’t personally chop down the tree.
Tim Straker, representing Newport Council alongside Elizabeth Nicholls said: “There is no dispute that Rands engaged somebody and secured the large lime tree of considerable amenity value to be removed from her garden, to use the vernacular, lock stock and barrel.
“It is said that in Wales you cannot be guilty of an offence of causing or permitting the destruction of a tree protected by a TPO. But it is unsatisfactory that someone could order a protected tree to be cut down on their land but then run free from any responsibility.”
It led Judge Celia Hughes to convict her of the more serious offence.
She said before sentencing: “It would be contrary to common sense that a householder could be prosecuted for a more minor offence when they are the person who directed the tree to be removed in the first place.”
The council estimated their property value had increased by at least £50,000 by removing the tree.
As such, she was dealt a £16,000 fine, as well as being ordered to pay £100,000 in prosecution costs.
She has 12 months to pay the fines.
The case has helped to define how the English law applies in Wales, determining that “causing or permitting the felling of a protected tree is an offence” according to Sarah Dodds of Tree Law UK.