A PROTESTER who climbed a 100-year-old tree in a North Yorkshire town to stop it being chopped down said he felt he had no choice if it was to be saved.
Mark Snow strapped himself to the branches of the beech tree at Irton, near Scarborough, on Tuesday morning to prevent contractors felling it at the end of a row between two councils which has cost taxpayers £225,000 in legal bills.
North Yorkshire County Council, which obtained a court order to cut the tree down after a resident claimed its roots were damaging drains in 2006, has said it will take legal advice before taking its next step.
Scarborough Borough Council had previously slapped a preservation order on the tree. “I couldn’t see anything else which could possibly be done other than direct action,” said Mr Snow.
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