A BUILDER who hacked a 100-year-old protected "landmark" tree is facing a fine of up to £20,000 after chopping into the sycamore with a chainsaw and killing it in a fit of "frustration" when council chiefs refused to let him cut it down.
Robert Wilkie twice applied for planning permission to build homes on a piece of land in Kinghorn Road, Burntisland, Fife - but failed after a deluge of objections by neighbours and even the local MSP.
They feared Wilkie's development would end up killing the towering sycamore - described as a local landmark and an "ancient symbol" of the area.
Fife Council put in place an additional tree preservation order in 2012 to protect the tree, which sat in grounds adjacent to a home owned by Wilkie in Kinghorn Road.
Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court heard Wilkie had sold the land which the tree sits on for £10,000 to his daughter and that she had last year applied for permission to build flats on it. That application was put in on the same day Wilkie took a chainsaw to the tree.
Wilkie was overheard saying he was "tired of people telling him what to do".
Neighbours called in Fife Council who carried out an assessment and reported that two rings had been cut around the tree's circumference. That deprived the tree of sap - killing it and meaning it had to be cut down for safety reasons.
A sheriff branded Wilkie's destruction a "disgrace" and said he had to be convinced that Wilkie would not financially benefit from the tree being cut down before he could pass sentence.
Wilkie, 59, of Bangholm Terrace, Edinburgh, pleaded guilty to wilfully damaging the tree contrary to a tree preservation order on June 16 last year.
Nigel Cooke, defending, said: "He doesn't accept there will be any financial benefit to cutting the tree down. He sold the land to his daughter and it's not currently capable of development.
"His position is he was frustrated because he considered the tree was potentially damaging his property adjacent to it. He will replace the tree.
"He was in the building industry but was hit by the downturn and now works as a building surveyor and consultant. He has been sequestrated recently."
Sheriff James Williamson said: "He has effectively destroyed a tree that was a local landmark. It's quite shocking behaviour.
"The penalty is limited to a financial penalty of up to £20,000. I need to know if he's going to have any financial benefit.
"I can't help but feel he has contrived this situation between the transfer of the property to his daughter then the sequestration. He now finds himself here with limited financial circumstances which I have to consider.
"I think this is just an absolute disgraceful piece of behaviour."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article