I have some important news to share. Today, the High Court granted an interim injunction preventing the felling of the 170 year old oak tree known as 'Old King George', and a nearby mature horse chestnut in Wivenhoe, close to the KGV children’s playground. This means that no felling or damage to either tree can take place while the court considers the legal issues that have been raised. The court has not yet shared a timetable for next steps.
 
The injunction is a temporary safeguard, put in place to prevent irreversible harm while serious questions about process, transparency, and environmental duties are examined properly. The court accepted that interim protection was necessary to preserve the factual basis of the case and to avoid significant and irreversible environmental damage. For transparency, the full interim injunction is available to read at this link.
 
I want to be very clear, we really did not want matters to reach this point, and it has brought me no pleasure to feel the need to take legal action (not how I hoped to spend the days leading up to Christmas I can tell you!). Legal proceedings were very much a last resort. Concerns about the decision to fell these trees have been raised by members of the community, including residents of the affected terrace, over several years. This has, of course, gathered new momentum this year, after the creation of this petition. Throughout 2025, we sought disclosure of evidence, meaningful dialogue, and a pause to felling to allow outstanding relevant statutory processes to conclude and to ensure the legality of the decision.
 
Unfortunately, despite recent efforts to secure release of the evidence base for the trees’ felling through the Environmental Information Regulations, and raising concerns in writing (including via a solicitor), those processes remained incomplete. An internal review process by Wivenhoe Town Council, in response to a complaint about its EIR response, is expected to conclude by 21 January and any subsequent follow-ups with the Information Commissioners Officer thereafter (with the original planned felling date being around 5 January). We asked the council to delay the felling until processes such as this had concluded and so that concerns about potential public law issues could be fully addressed, but this was not agreed to.
 
When it became clear that felling was likely to proceed before relevant statutory processes were completed, we felt we had no responsible alternative left but to ask the court to intervene urgently, with the application we made before Christmas. We would, of course, have far preferred for this to be resolved without the involvement of the courts.
 
In the application to the High Court, our solicitor has raised serious concerns about potential breaches of statutory environmental duties, procedural unfairness, and a perceived failure to exercise independent judgement, among other issues. Without the injunction, there was a real risk that the trees could be felled while these matters remained unresolved, and that it could later be found that they should not have been. That would have been a deeply disappointing outcome.
 
We remain, as ever, committed to engaging constructively and respectfully with all parties. We will share updates as soon as we are able to do so.
 
If you would like to continue to contribute towards the ongoing legal costs, the Pledge form and Crowdfunder pages remain open. We are also exploring setting up a new profile with a fundraising platform specifically designed for legal cases, which may better suit any future steps and through which we might consolidate fundraising efforts moving forwards. We will share more information on this shortly.
 
Thank you to everyone who has supported us with such generosity and kindness, and for understanding why this legal action, though regrettable, has been considered necessary.