Read more:
- Exclusive: Ripon Cathedral pauses annexe planning application
- Ripon Cathedral planning application – are you for or against?
- Cathedral development would see loss of veteran Beech and 10 other trees
BBC wildlife presenter and conservationist Chris Packham urged his 630,000 followers on X, formerly Twitter, to support the 'save our trees' petitioners in Ripon on Friday.
He said:
"Ripon Cathedral were due to fell 11 beech trees in a conservation area to build a cafe, but paused when made aware @Channel4News were coming to interview campaigners."
"Tree vandalism’ in our precious urban green spaces must end – please support those that are fighting back . . ."
Chris Packham
Alex Thomson
Feargal Sharkey
The cathedral responds
In response to Mr Packham's claim that the cathedral's actions in pausing the planning application were carried out only because of the Channel 4 interest in the plans, a spokeswoman for the Dean and Chapter, said:
"This is not the case at all. This pause and opportunity for further consultation was discussed by Chapter in the autumn and the decision made to request a pause in December. This took effect once planning officers gave their approval in January. Conversations with Channel 4 about the opportunity to speak with them are unrelated."
The spokeswoman, added:
"It should also be noted that the cathedral is not planning to remove 11 Beech trees from a conservation area."
The 1,000 sq metres annexe would include an 80-seat refectory, gift shop, song school, new toilets with accessibility for disabled people and space for storage. But the cathedral proposes to make space by removing the trees and compensating for their loss by planting 300 trees on private land near Studley.
Last month, the proposed removal of a veteran beech and 10 other mature trees from Minster Gardens brought a similar call from pop star-turned-environmental campaigner Feargal Sharkey who brought the issue to the attention of his 229,000 followers on X.
He described the proposal to plant 300 trees on land near Studley as compensation for the felled Minster Gardens trees as "greenwashing at its finest".
Environmental journalist Mr Thomson was scheduled to visit Ripon on January 30 to report on plans for a £6 million development and while that is now on hold, he is keeping an eye on developments in liaison with fellow environmental journalist and Ripon-based tree campaigner, Brian McHugh.
The Woodland Trust's reaction
The beech tree is on the Woodland Trust's inventory of ancient trees.
Jack Taylor, lead campaigner at the conservation charity, said on Wednesday it was "delighted" the cathedral was reconsidering its plans. He added:
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