Fiorenzo Sauro and his firm Enzo Homes ltd, in a quest to develop 80 homes in Penllergaer, Swansea has been fined £300k for commissioning 72 protected trees to be removed from a fenced off location that was outside his planning application and had no right to be working on. The tree contractor Mr Arwyn Morgan, who felled the trees was also fined a hefty £120k for his part in the destruction of the ancient woodland.
What has caused the most up-roar locally is that one of the 72 trees felled was an irreplaceable 176-year-old, 90 ft giant redwood (valued at c.£250k) and which had a Tree Preservation Order (TPO) on it to protect it from such fate. What’s more, this iconic tree wasn’t even located on the site granted planning permission and was almost 65m outside the site area.
Limited planning permission had been granted, with conditions, to redevelop an old civic centre in Penllergaer, Swansea. Clear, simple and robust tree protection plans & methodologies had been issued along with an exclusion area identified on the application and which included land adjacent to the site in question. These were subsequently ignored.
On hearing that there had been a breach of the TPO, The Local Authority investigated and brought proceedings to court where it was deemed, by District Judge Neale Thomas, that Mr Sauro and his firm had not only been negligent but had deliberately ignored the comprehensive plans associated with the planning application in order to clear land for development. In his defence, Mr Sauro claimed that the felling was an accident and pointed the blame at the Tree Contractor, Mr Morgan. However, Judge Thomas over-ruled it…
"There would have been discussions about how it was to be done, permission obtained to remove the fence and any other preparatory work."
… laying the overall responsibility at Mr Sauro’s door and that Mr Morgan should have consulted his moral compass before felling the trees.
Unfortunately, the felling of TPO’d, heritage trees is happening more and more. Hopefully, making an example of this case and having to face such large fines for the pleasure of such loathsome acts will help to stop this abhorrent movement by immoral developers and their associated parties, in future.
For further reading on the case, please see District Judge Thomas’ judgement and the BBC’s news article