The Happy Man Tree was a

London plane The London plane, or sometimes hybrid plane, ''Platanus'' × ''hispanica'', is a tree in the genus ''Platanus''. It is often known by the Synonym (taxonomy), synonym ''Platanus'' × ''acerifolia'', a later name. It is a Hybrid (biology ...

in the

Woodberry Down Manor House is a district in the London Borough of Hackney. Located in North London, it lies immediately east of Finsbury Park, west of Stamford Hill and south of Harringay. The area was originally known as Woodberry Down. However, the constru ...

area of Hackney, London, which was awarded Tree of The Year for 2020 by the

Woodland Trust The Woodland Trust is the largest woodland conservation charity in the United Kingdom and is concerned with the creation, protection, and restoration of native woodland heritage. It has planted over 68 million trees since 1972. The Woodland Tru ...

. The tree was the subject of a dispute between

Berkeley Homes The Berkeley Group Holdings plc is a British property developer and house-builder based in Cobham, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. The firm was founded in 1976 by Tony Pidgl ...

and members of the local community over plans for it to be cut down to enable new home construction. A petition to save the tree with 22,000 signatures was delivered to the

Mayor of Hackney The mayor of Hackney is a directly elected mayor responsible for the executive function of Hackney London Borough Council in London, England. The post was created following a referendum in the London Borough of Hackney on 2 May 2002. The inaugur ...

in June 2020, with the high court granting an injunction to stop protesters blocking the demolition work granted two days later. The tree was ultimately cut down in January 2021.

History and description

The Happy Man Tree was situated just off

Seven Sisters Road Seven Sisters Road is a road in north London, England which runs within the boroughs of London Borough of Islington, Islington, London Borough of Hackney, Hackney and London Borough of Haringey, Haringey. It is an extension of Camden Road, runnin ...

in Hackney. It can be seen on an

Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...

map dating from 1870. It was named due to its proximity to a now-demolished

flat-roofed pub In the United Kingdom and Ireland, a flat-roofed pub is a public house with a flat roof, often located on housing estates. They are frequently of concrete construction, with flat roofs rather than more conventional pitched roofs. Flat-roofed pub ...

called the Happy Man. A 2019 arboricultural report details that at that time it was a mature tree of good physiological and structural condition. It was described as a tree of "high quality with an estimated remaining life expectancy of at least 40 years" and a "particularly good example" of its species. In addition to its Tree of the Year award, it was also ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' newspaper's tree of the week in July 2020. The tree was around 150 years old when it was felled as part of the Woodberry Down Estate regeneration project in January 2021.

Controversial felling

was involved in a dispute with environmental campaigners over the tree; the developer wanted to remove it as part of regeneration work on Woodberry Down estate. Hackney residents started to camp overnight by the tree on 19 May 2020 after there were signs that work to cut it down was beginning, such as workmen putting fences around the tree. That day, the

Philip Glanville Philip Glanville is a British Labour and Co-operative politician who served as the directly elected mayor of Hackney in London. Hackney councillor Philip Glanville was elected as a councillor for the Hackney London Borough Council ward of Hoxton ...

tweeted an apology for the distress caused, explaining that "the tree is not being felled today", and saying that he had asked for an urgent update, acknowledging that there had not been responses to emails received and the petition. A group of local residents formed an association, Friends of the Happy Man Tree, to launch a petition to save the tree. They also launched a

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and Alternative Finance, alternative finance, to fund projects "withou ...

campaign to cover the costs of a legal challenge to prevent the tree from being cut down. As part of the campaign, local community members installed artworks at the site, hung a banner with the

hashtag A hashtag is a metadata tag operator that is prefaced by the hash symbol, ''#''. On social media, hashtags are used on microblogging and photo-sharing services–especially Twitter and Tumblr–as a form of user-generated tagging that enable ...

#NoticeThisTree, decorated the tree with lights and a

disco ball A disco ball (also known as a mirror ball or glitter ball) is a roughly sphere, spherical object that reflects light directed at it in many directions, producing a complex display. Its surface consists of hundreds or thousands of facets, nearl ...

and had a professional flautist play in the tree. On 24 June, protesters delivered the petition to save the tree with 22,000 signatures and an axe made from

papier-mâché file:JacmelMardiGras.jpg, upright=1.3, Mardi Gras papier-mâché masks, Haiti Papier-mâché ( , , - the French term "mâché" here means "crushed and ground") is a versatile craft technique with roots in ancient China, in which waste paper is s ...

to the Labour

, asking him if he was "prepared to strike the first blow". Hackney Council argued that the tree would cause "design harm and reduction in affordable housing", with a spokesperson for Berkeley claiming that felling the tree would "enable the delivery of 584 much needed new homes, including 243 affordable homes, many of which are for people living in substandard accommodation elsewhere on Woodberry Down". Berkeley Homes and

Hackney Council Hackney London Borough Council, also known as Hackney Council, is the local authority for the London Borough of Hackney, in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in London. The council has been under Labour majority c ...

sought an injunction against the peaceful protesters, who were blocking the removal of the tree. Supporters of the tree were "devastated" when this injunction to stop protesters blocking their demolition work was granted by the High Court on 26 June 2020. The injunction became active in December 2020, prompting the ''Hackney Gazette'' to report that it "could be felled 'imminently'". Mayor Philip Glanville said that, while a way to avoid removing this tree without delays to the development could not be found, there would instead be 175 new trees planted, along with creation of a new public park and "the equivalent of 19 tennis courts of new open spaces". Berkeley say they will be "increasing biodiversity in the area by over 150 per cent".

Tree of the Year

During England's spring COVID-19 lockdown, the tree was nominated for the Woodland Trust's annual Tree of the Year contest by parents and children who pass it on the way to school, with ''

The Ecologist ''The Ecologist'' was a British environmental journal/magazine, published from 1970 to 2009. Founded by Edward Goldsmith, it addressed a wide range of environmental subjects and promoted an ecological systems thinking approach through its news ...

'' reporting that those who nominated it "believe it is vital that a tree which plays a part in making the air cleaner for the community is saved". After shortlisting by an independent panel of judges, the public "overwhelmingly" voted the Happy Man Tree as England's winner. It beat nine shortlisted rivals, including runner up, the

Grantham Grantham () is a market town and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road (Great Britain), A1 road. It lies south of Lincoln, England ...

oak, whose own encounter with housing planning was referenced in the Woodland Trust's announcement of the Happy Man Tree's win. The 2020 contest saw double the number of trees nominated by members of the public than in previous years, which Darren Moorcroft, chief executive of the Woodland Trust, attributed to lockdowns causing people to take more note of nature on their doorsteps. As part of the award, the Friends of the Happy Man Tree campaign group was given a £1,000 tree care award by the

People's Postcode Lottery A lottery (or lotto) is a form of gambling that involves the drawing of numbers at random for a prize. Some governments outlaw lotteries, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find som ...

. The group said it was exploring using the funds to raise awareness about the value of mature trees in the local area. In the announcement of the award's winner, Adam Cormack, head of campaigning for the Woodland Trust, acknowledged the Berkeley development's "great work" to provide "important social housing". However, he also said that "given the developer's own admission that this tree could have been retained if plans were amended earlier in the consultation process, we must call this out for being a poor decision". He believes the tree's legacy should be that England's planning system "should protect existing trees and local voices must be listened to when decisions on local trees and woods are made".

Gallery

The Happy Man Tree - all we want for Christmas.png, alt="All we want for Christmas is the Happy Man Tree" mural, Christmas mural at the site of the tree The Happy Man Tree - high court injunction against persons unknown.png, alt=High court injunction documents tied to tree, High court injunction documents tied to tree The Happy Man Tree - homes and trees graffiti.png, alt="Homes and trees" message from protesters, Message from protesters The Happy Man Tree - honouring the trees.png, alt=Photography exhibition honouring the 51 trees cut down for the Berkeley development, Exhibition honouring the 51 trees cut down for the Berkeley development The Happy Man Tree - urgent appeal graffiti.png, alt="Urgent appeal" message from protesters, Message from protesters

References

External links