It's been a while, apologies. We've had a busy and eventful time in Wivenhoe. We originally thought that a month ago our oak tree and two others would be felled (see reference to 13-15th Jan in the petition). Well, we have a very exciting and positive update to share with you all.

We are very happy to announce that not only is Old King George (and friends) still standing, that an agreement has now been reached with Wivenhoe Town Council to delay any felling until the 31 March. This will allow our independent expert evaluation to take place within a short but reasonable timeframe. You can read a statement on Wivenhoe Town Council's website here.

Getting to this point has been hard work for all involved. We - those campaigning to save the trees - are grateful that the council met with the relevant insurers this week to negotiate for this delay of felling in line with previous in principle agreement that we reached together a few weeks ago and for listening to us in forming the finer details.

The main caveat of the agreement is that there is a requirement for the trees to have a crown reduction to mitigate any movement issues. We have agreed with the council and insurer that we will input on the selection of an appropriately certified professional to undertake these works to ensure risks to the tree are minimised and best practice is observed.

The car park, which is the present home for Old King George (having originally been part of the Wivenhoe Hall parkscape, the car park a relatively recent update), and an unintended complication these past weeks, will be reopened as soon as possible. The fencing is soon to be cleared fully by the council. The tree protectors have maintained a constant vigil and protection of the tree within the council's fenced enclosure for the past month. They are, in response to the agreement, working on leaving the site already. They have started the tidy up, with a ‘leave no trace' mentality in line with their environmental values. I am in awe of their fortitude and resilience in the face of challenging conditions to have persevered for all this time and worked spontaneously in self organising their peaceful vigil. Without them, we would not have gotten to this point.

The council has, in reaching this agreement with us, expressed support of the evaluation exercise. We look forward to working to more fully understand the consequences that felling the trees may constitute and appraising their value to Wivenhoe to inform any future decisions on their fate. This is all we have wanted for the last 18 months and a core ask of this petition so we are very pleased indeed with this happy outcome. 

In the process of our dialogue with the council it has also been confirmed that one of the three trees that was thought to be on WTC land and due to be felled is actually outside their boundary. So now we concern ourselves with just two trees including Old King George.

Thank you to everyone for all the support and patience. We are pleased to now move forward positively and focus our energies on the independent evaluation work. We would appreciate any support to the Crowdfunder to help us make the most of the opportunity for an independent evaluation. We are nearly at £8000 of our £20,000 target, with two weeks to go.

So what's next?

While there's much to be happy about with reaching this critical point, we are not quite ready to 'declare this petition a victory' just yet. There's still lots of hard work ahead of us, namely undertaking the independent evaluation in a relatively tight time frame. There will be limits to the scope of our independent evaluation owing to the still concise timeframe available. We will be doing our utmost to generate maximum impact in this time with this work and have been seeking the input of those with relevant expertise, including but not limited arboriculturalists, engineers and geotechs. If you can help us with professional expertise, or perhaps academic institution support, please be in touch with the campaign team via email at oldoaktreewivenhoe@gmail.com. And monetary contributions are very welcomed via the Crowdfunder to support professional services costs and legal fees. 

We will need to make use of this interdisciplinary evaluation to seek a change of hearts and minds at the insurer, Aviva, should we find that alternatives are viable. We have reached out directly to Aviva twice in the past two weeks imploring them to reconsider their decision for our tree and we have not heard from them yet. We hope that seeing a fresh perspective on the circumstances from our report, with well researched evidence and a depth of local contextual knowledge Aviva will be willing to work with us, their claimants and WTC to find a way forward that is ‘environmentally sustainable’ (Aviva's words, not mine).

It may be, of course, that it is found that saving one or both trees is not possible. However, a more transparent process in making that decision is at the core of what this petition was set up to seek. We will make sure to contemplate what scenarios could be implemented should felling ultimately take place. However, for now we have every reason to believe there is considerable chance of finding alternative ways forward for both the trees and the nearby homes to be preserved and safe for a long time.

In the press 

Our happy update has already been covered by the BBC and the Colchester Gazette, both of whom have closely followed our story in recent weeks. We hope that whatever the outcome of our tree, that others can be aware of the challenges urban trees and older oaks face due to insurers like Aviva, as well as being more aware of the reasons they're so worth trying to save. Thank you to all those journalists who have been following our story.

To conclude

Thank you to all those who have helped reach an positive outcome between the campaign to save Old King George and Wivenhoe Town Council in making this agreement. We now must focus our attentions to seeking a similarly constructive dialogue with the insurer, Aviva. We have every hope that this will be successful, but will be needing as much support as possible along the Way. 

Personally speaking, when I started this petition I had no expectation that we would actually achieve so much of what was asked for. I have been inspired and challenged in equal parts by the past few weeks. I feel more deeply connected to Wivenhoe and have an enhanced appreciation of how fortunate we are living here. I look at trees in a totally different light, more closely observant and very grateful to see Old King George in particular of course as each day passes. This has been a transformative experience in so many ways, who knows it may even have a happy end to the story. I'm so thankful to everyone who has signed this petition for helping us along the way. I hope we will bring more positive news in due course. Perhaps even with Aviva communicating with us constructively towards alternative solutions... Dare I dream?

To be continued...

With thanks to AS for the beautiful photo of Old King George.