Who am I? - I'm Colette Haseldine, a local affected member of the public, fighting to stop the unnecessary felling of an extremely large, vibrant and HEALTHY Ash tree in Queenborough, Kent, U.K. where the insurance company is trying to avoid taking responsibility for the subsidence correction costs.

Summary - the insurance company responsible for putting right the severe subsidence on an 120-year-old end-of-terrace property in Queenborough, instead of stabilising the property with relatively inexpensive resin underpinning (cost £5,000 to £15,000 with 20-year guarantee, by Shire UK or Geobear and other structural engineering firms) is instead bullying the local council to pay £1,000 to fell the nearest tree (whose environmental value is around £500,000!) which sits 41ft away from the property on public land, even though there have been two massive water leaks directly alongside the property in the last five years!

Standard insurance industry practice is to automatically fell the nearest tree to a subsidence claim, repair the cracks, wait for the property to crack again once the effect of the felled tree adversely affects the property's structure, and THEN underpin.

We are in a climate EMERGENCY, where EVERY existing mature tree counts! Replacing JUST the carbon storage element of this one 50ft tall, 60ft wide, 100-year-old very healthy ASH tree (NO ash dieback, which makes it rare, one of only 5-10% of ash trees in this country which DON'T have ash dieback, and therefore even more reason to save this vibrant tree) would require replanting MORE THAN 1,000 small saplings!

Call to action - I stopped the felling from taking place on 12 June 2023 but the council will imminently attempt again to fell the tree! (probably in the next couple of days)  I'm initially raising £1,500 for a legal opinion to show the council that they are likely to lose in court if I have to obtain an injunction to prevent the felling. If you have ever wanted to save a tree from unnecessary felling, please give this campaign your support: please contribute and share this page now!

What are we trying to achieve? - It's time that the insurance industry is made to realise that trees are enormously valuable, and that trees should NOT be felled just because the insurance company is trying to avoid paying out for underpinning.

A win in court against the insurance company will help MANY other trees at risk around the UK from being improperly felled for subsidence reasons.

Hopefully we will persuade the council to our side without needing to first take THEM to court, although their fear about losing in court to insurance companies may mean that we have to provide legal reassurance about the likelihood of us winning against the insurance company, something which I am confident we will achieve, given the climate crisis gaining better attention in council and legal processes. 

What is the next step in the case? - Your support is vital, to show the council that they should work WITH me against the insurance company, whose loss adjustor told me arrogantly that they ALWAYS win in court against councils who don't want to take down trees implicated (usually wrongly) in subsidence claims.

Not any more!

How much we are raising and why? - Initially, £1,500 for a legal opinion from expert lawyers who regularly challenge council decisions on environmental matters. Then around £5,000 for the capped fees for the court hearing against (hopefully) the insurance company rather than against the council, to get an injunction to save the tree.

The funds raised here will go directly to Buckles Law, specialists in Judicial Reviews of planning decisions which adversely affect the environment. Further funds will then go to barrister Paul Powlesland, founder of LawyersforNature, who is ready to protect the rights of nature in court against the damaging actions of the insurance companies who prefer to fell trees rather than underpin properties affected by subsidence.

THANK YOU for caring about trees and helping to save this tree, and thus many more!