Mitchell & Butlers (M&B) has agreed to fund a community orchard in Enfield following the felling of an ancient oak last year.
M&B, the company that had arranged for the Whitewebbs Oak to be axed last April, has now provided a donation to the local authority’s Enfield Chase Landscape Restoration scheme to help restore a ‘historic lost orchard’ on the Ridgeway corridor.
In a joint statement from Enfield Council and M&B yesterday, it was confirmed that the funds will support the planting of one thousand new trees near the orchard, with the aim of promoting nature restoration, climate resilience, and biodiversity.
It reiterates that M&B ‘sincerely apologises for the upset’ caused to local people as a result of the felling.
However, the council has said that it ‘recognises that M&B acted on the recommendation of reputable, professional advisors in taking the steps that it did, for the purpose of mitigating any health and safety risk to guests, team members and the wider public arising from the condition of the tree’.
Alongside the donation, M&B will also pay reparations towards the costs of treatment to the Whitewebbs Oak tree.
‘The parties now consider this matter closed’, it adds.
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