Bristol: Protesters 'occupy' oak tree to prevent felling

Save The Ashley Down Oak campaigners say they will remain in the tree for "however long is necessary"

Campaigners are occupying the branches of an oak tree to stop it from being felled by the local council.

Platforms have been built onto the tree in Ashley Down Road, Bristol with protesters taking turns to occupy it.

Save the Ashley Down Oak campaigner Torin Menzies said: "Residents have been really supportive of our campaign and bring us food and drinks."

Bristol City Council says the tree is causing "significant subsidence damage" to a nearby home and must be removed.

The tree is believed to be about 100 years old.

Mr Menzies added: "We will not allow Bristol City Council to cut down this tree.

"We have put platforms up there and there's always been at least one person occupying it since Monday which was the first day the council could have felled it," he said.

A petition to save the tree has attracted more than 1,375 signatures

He added that the group believed that felling the tree would not solve subsistence issues so there was no "acceptable reason" to remove it.

"All the people we have spoken to say it's because the houses are built on a clay hill.

"The council has refused a request to grant an emergency Tree Preservation Order," said Mr Menzies.

'Sadly unavoidable'

Bristol City Council said an independent expert had recommended that the tree should be removed and it was now "sadly unavoidable".

"Previous pruning back of this tree has unfortunately not stopped significant subsidence damage to a neighbouring house," a council spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added the council would be planting 250 new trees at nearby Sefton Park Primary school and 600 trees would follow within around a mile of Ashley Down Road within "this growing season".

The planting forms part of the council's "commitment to doubling Bristol's tree canopy by 2046".