High Court judge dismisses second legal challenge brought against council in tree felling row

A claim that Plymouth City Council breached an injunction in relation to its decision to fell more than a hundred trees in the city centre has been dismissed by a High Court judge.

The legal challenge brought by Save the Trees of Armada Way (STRAW) also claimed the council did not allow sufficient time for the decision to be challenged.

Council workers cut down 117 trees on 14 March 2023 before a last-minute injunction forced them to put down their tools.

Plymouth's decision was widely covered in the news and caused controversy in the city, eventually leading to the leader of the council, Richard Bingley, stepping down.

It also saw STRAW launch a judicial review challenge against the council, which was found to be "academic" in March 2024.

Alongside this, the group pursued a separate challenge, claiming the council had breached the last-minute injunction and had impeded the group's ability to protest the decision to cut down the trees.

At a one-day hearing earlier this year, STRAW argued that council officers interfered with the group's ability to challenge the decision to fell the trees "by misleading us into thinking a decision had not been made when it already had ".

The group alleged that an email from the then-monitoring officer implied a decision had not been taken "even though Bingley had already signed it off by the time the email was sent".

The claim also alleged that the council did not comply with the injunction for over half an hour after it came into force "even though they knew about it".

Today (13 November), a High Court judge refused permission for the claim.

A spokesperson for STRAW said: "We have done all we can to try and hold Plymouth City Council to account over what was, let's not forget, not only, an appalling act of environmental vandalism but a dark moment for democracy.

"We have no faith that the Independent Learning Review will result in genuine learning but at least because of the legal challenges a lot more information will be available to whoever conducts it. Information, that PCC might otherwise have kept to themselves."

Responding to the judgment, Cllr Tudor Evans, Leader of the council said: "We are finally able to put the matter of the Armada Way felling of the trees to rest.

"It has been frustrating that over the past year, Ali White and Straw have continued to challenge the previous administration's approach to the felling of the trees through the courts. Each time they have been unsuccessful in their legal action. Each time it has cost the taxpayer thousands of pounds.

"Since the start of this process, we have been clear that it was never in the city's best interests to argue the rights and wrongs of a decision that was subsequently scrapped and we are pleased that all the live legal action has now concluded.”

Cllr Evans added: "We know that there are some lessons to be learnt, and as we promised the Court earlier this year, we will be holding an independent learning review.

"We will now move forward with commissioning experts to lead this piece of work, working with SOLACE to identify professionals with relevant experience. We will provide an update shortly as this work will commence asap."

Adam Carey