Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Urgent! Happy Man Tree to Be felled 'imminently'. Other trees already being cut down. Protesters face two year jail sentences,
The 150 year old Happy Man Tree mentioned in this article is among 41 mature trees being cut down as we speak. The story has reached national news with protesters facing 2 year jail sentences
I went this afternoon after hearing that felling had already begun, and met with the local campaign group 'friends of the happy man tree',
To clarify the Happy Man Tree itself has not yet been cut down, but when I arrived at around 16:00 today, chainsaws were already out, and several huge mature trees just behind the Happy Man Tree were in the process of being cut down.
This photo was taken at 17:36 on 18/12/2020
Here is the same shot, posted on twitter only 3 days before.
I met with representatives of the friends of the Happy Man Tree who want to raise the profile of these other trees being cut down, despite the fact that they don't quite have the same fame.
Two residents walking past stopped and talked to us, amid the sounds of the chainsaws. The first lady said that she remembered swinging in the tree as a child. The second said he had lived here for 50 years, and walked past the tree every day. He told me that the new housing block had been built adjacent was bought by a single overseas investor, who is now renting out the flats for rates unaffordable by him and the existing community.
It was all very sad, and felt so avoidable. These trees have great value to London at a time when a recent ruling has shown that air pollution was a factor in the death of a 9 year young London girl.
To rub salt in the wound, Berkeley Homes and Hackney Council appear to have greenwashed the development with the hoarding marketing the 'natural' setting that they are busily cutting down.
The whole thing seems to have been handled badly and in quite an aggressive manner, with private security showing up on the scene. They brought guard dogs onto the public street, whilst the trees were cut under the cover of dark.
New signs have also been posted, warning (incredibly) that protesters face prison sentences for trying to protect the tree.
One brave soul is camped up in the Happy Man Tree itself. I take my hat off to them, and I really hope that everyone who is as touched by this as I was, is able to spread the message about this ongoing tragedy, and help to stop it before all the trees are gone.
Thank you
Nick
Concerned local resident
More info here
Get in touch | SAVE The Happy Man Tree
Tags for Forum Posts: environment, happy man tree, housing., nature, trees
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Esther Little on
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Very sad news Nick.
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Always amused by vans with 'DOG SECTION' signs on them masquerading as some sort of auxiliary unit. In reality the company probably has about four employees and the head office is a portacabin.
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Hi nick this isn’t just sad it is criminal , is the local mp and are councillors involved. Mentioning the investment angle made me think of the amazing film push that was out last year. There is a website linked to the film it might be worth sending them theses images so at least they are noted.
https://www.pushthefilm.com/about/
A sad day for the planet.
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I don’t find it sad at all. I live round the corner and very much support the new development. I also support removing the tree. Building high quality homes is the priority here, not sentimentality or extremist green campaigners (mostly white, posh and not from this area). The new development has created superb new public spaces. Democratic process has been followed. Now protesters must obey the law and get out of the way.
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Permalink Reply by Matt on
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Agree with you on the new, vastly improved, public spaces, though there is well-documented displacement of both residents and businesses caused by the development.
To stick with the tree, it seems odd to me that it couldn't be incorporated into the design. As I understand it, the developer themselves said they could have moved an access road a couple of metres to the left and kept the tree, if only they'd been asked (!) at the earlier design stage.
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