Dear All,

The last post put up nearly four months ago ended by saying, "keep talking about this issue because it's not over yet!". And unfortunately, this forecast was correct.

In July 2025, Cornwall Council (CC) renewed its decision to fell three protected trees on Trelawney Road in Falmouth.

For background, this decision was first made obvious to members of the community back in December 2024 when an attempt to fell by CC was stopped by a few local residents.

Questions were then put to CC to explain its reasons for felling and when no lawful justification with evidence was forthcoming, Stop the Chop! was formed.

Eight months, numerous emails and two public protests later, CC has still failed to supply lawful reasons for felling with verifiable evidence.

For example, the latest press update issued by CC on 15/07/2025 implies that felling is required because tree roots are entangled with utility services and have been since 2021.

However, there have been no reports of any issues and no evidence has been supplied to support this claim. Moreover, the implications for trees across the country is quite terrifying.

This sense of unease was summed up by Cllr Laurie Magowan in a statement issued on 20/07/2025. Importantly, Cllr Magowan casts doubt on CC's latest communications saying,

1. "Unfortunately, the various statements issued by Cornwall Council have done nothing to evidence the environmental need to fell the trees and have instead raised further questions on the process and legality of removal" and 

2. "It has been confirmed to me that it was not the intention of the statement, to directly attribute utilities damage as the foundation for decision making. This indicates that the wording of the communication is clumsy at best and arguably aiming to mislead".

These two points effectively sum up what Stop the Chop! has been up against ie.CC's attempts to mislead the public with regard to its decision to fell by using disingenuous reasons.

The real reason for felling seems to be an out of court settlement that has been agreed between CC and a third party that involves the felling of the three trees, payment of a six figure sum and a confidentiality clause.

Stop the Chop! has raised this with CC at various public forums and it has never been refuted. In fact, in recent weeks CC has actually used the confidentiality cloak as the reason for not being able to share details with the public.

This puts us firmly in mind of the words used at the last protest by Paul Powlesland, the environmental barrister, that such a lack of information sharing on the part of CC is, "extraordinarily unhelpful and actually really quite outrageous".

As it stands, CC are proposing to fell three healthy and protected trees that have stood on Trelawney Road in Falmouth for more than sixty years without giving the public lawful reasons with verifiable evidence to justify its actions. 

Stop the Chop! does not believe this to be acceptable and questions the right of CC to agree a confidential settlement with a third party that involves the proposed felling and a six figure payment. 

Stop the Chop! is calling for openness and transparency that adheres to CC's policy on governance in office.

We very much hope that you will support us by signing this petition.

With very many thanks.

Stop the Chop!