Who felled Enfield’s ancient oak?

0:05Hi, I'm Julie Banks and welcome back to The Standard Podcast. If you're new here, don't forget to hit follow and give us a rating. Coming up, the new faces of Dumbledore, Hagrid and Snape are revealed as HBO confirms the names of the actors who will take on iconic roles in their forthcoming TV adaptation of the Harry Potter books. Partha said it was like an honour and a privilege to be going on this journey with these legends. We shall eat and we shall leave no crumbs. The Standard's culture writer Vicky Jessup is here with everything we know so far.

0:44But first, police have been called in to investigate the circumstances surrounding the felling of an ancient oak tree in North London. Reports were made to Enfield Council on 3rd April that the tree in Whitewebs Park had been damaged, sparking local outrage and immediate concerns by the council, who have since issued a tree preservation order whilst the situation is looked into. One of those campaigning for better protection of our woodlands is tree expert and local business owner Lawrence Thor-Steven, who is CEO of Thor's Trees, a tree management company in the North London area. Lawrence, you've been down to the site of the felling.

1:23Can you tell us a bit about the local area and the significance of the tree itself? It's an amazing green space right in the heart of Enfield. It's actually home to many ancient and really old native trees. The oak tree that got cut down is what we would class as an ancient oak tree. So it's of a specific size. We've estimated it to be between 300 to 500 years old. One of the things that people may not realise is the Woodland Trust have a thing called the ancient tree inventory. And this tree, like many, is documented on the ancient tree inventory. tree. When it was last recorded, it had a girth, like a circumference.

2:06So it stood at 6.1 meters. So you're looking at at least sort of three, four, maybe five people hand in hand to sort of hug the tree in order for you to get all the way around it. So this tree was what we would call an ancient tree. It's huge. And it's documented, you know, it's a lapsed pollard, it's a standing native oak. So it's a very, very, very high significance to the community. So what do we know about what has taken place and how has this happened? We know that last week at some point someone was instructed to cut down this beautiful tree. We don't know who. We've spoken to local councillors.

2:46I've personally spoken to the local tree officer to try and get some more information and they knew nothing and they did not instruct or permit anyone to cut down this tree. We also know that the contractors that cut the tree down were using hiding equipment and also the vehicles that they had were not branded with any sort of company branding. So it would seem that they were trying to go under the radar. And also by using this sort of cherry picker leads us to believe that they were just trying to get this tree down quickly as well. What are your concerns about the impact this will have on the local wildlife in the area?

3:20The long term impact that this is going to have is huge. There are over 1700 species of invertebrate that live off of these oak trees. And this oak tree would have been perfect habitat for so many of them at all parts and all cycles of their life. Not only home to sort of the invertebrate and invertebrate, but it would have been home to over 50 species of potential fungi, which again hosts habitat and really helps with the overall ecology and other trees within the area, other birds that would have thrived off of the things that this tree would have been doing for the local eco-ecology of the area.

4:02I used to live a stone throw away from where that tree is. I would see bats flying around my back garden and you don't get that in London. These pockets of amazing habitat, we're losing more and more and more of it as we're building in and around London. And I'm all for building new homes. I don't own my own home myself and I hope to one day but so I know that there is a need for homes for new homes but these are not the spaces we need to be destroying it's so important for us to protect these local irreplaceable habitat posted a video on YouTube about a day ago and it's gone firewood and I paused for a second on the video for people to just hear the bird song in the background and without trees like this in and around the area contributing to the habitat and the overall ecology of the area.

4:49We don't have birdsong like that. It's just this beautiful, continuous sound of nature. And as we remove these important parts of the environmental architecture, the birdsong like that doesn't exist anymore. And we won't have safe spaces for people to enjoy. With your own tree management work, obviously you're in touch with Enfield Council on, I presume, pretty much a daily basis. What's been their reaction to this? Yeah, I mean, look, I don't speak to them daily, but I certainly speak to them often. We're always putting in planning applications for works to be done on protected trees or perhaps with, you know, any sort of planning constraints and stuff like that.

5:28So yeah, I mean, good tree business owners are always in contact with the local authority and tree offices. And, you know, as soon as I found out about this tree, you know, I gave them a call and they knew nothing of it. They didn't know that this tree had been destroyed or felled. so they were alarmed to say the least like they were worried it was a well-known tree to the local authority sadly it didn't have a tree protection order on it unfortunately but it wouldn't have needed to I mean in an ideal world in hindsight would we have put a TPO on it absolutely it's a tree of high importance and high significance but because it was a local authority owned tree anyone who was looking to do any work to it or anyone was planning to do anything around that area would have had to notify the local authority of their intent of the works anyway.

6:14So it kind of was protected because it was public property and they were deeply upset. He went straight down to the site. He inspected it from what I understand. And he then put a tree protection order on the tree. So nothing further can happen to that tree or around that tree whilst we're going into the further investigations. They've informed the police. So they've done all of the right things so far in response to the news of this horrific incident. As we've mentioned, an investigation has been launched into the matter. Going forward, Lawrence, what can we all do to better protect our trees and green spaces?

6:50Look, there is an active threat to these outdoor green spaces. I know that for a fact. There are corporations, there are companies, there are groups of people who are trying to tear down, get hold of these green spaces and destroy them, ruin them, get rid of them, you know, either extending out car parks, building training facilities. Like it's scary what is happening to these green spaces in and around London. These spaces need to be protected. They need to be well managed. They need to be well documented. And we need to wake the conversation up around the importance of retaining this irreplaceable habitat.

7:30All it takes is people to just go out and enjoy these spaces. Get in and around them. Bring your children down to these parks. If we don't start using these spaces, if we don't start waking up the conversation around protecting these spaces, it will only take one or two generations for us to have to go abroad to enjoy these green spaces, to breathe that fresh air, to not hear the noise of London. You only have to drive 15 minutes into these spaces for you to just be fully indulged in nature. So I would say you don't have to become an activist. You don't have to become a petitionist. All we're asking is for people to just be a part of the conversation around protecting these trees.

8:09And if there are things that pop up in your local newspaper around the importance of these trees, join the conversation. Get involved. You live and work in the area. How has this affected people locally? This has really hit them. This has been very active on a lot of the Facebook groups. You know, Enfield is home to an amazing community. We love Enfield. And when news like this passes through, it hits us in not only an emotional way, but it feels like a physical way. It feels like something's been taken away from us, belongs to our children or our children's children. It's very sad.

8:46Let's go to a break. Coming up in part two, The Standards culture writer Vicky Jessup is here with the latest update on who will be starring in the new Harry Potter TV series and the speculation on who could be playing He Who Must Not Be Named. We'll see you back here in just a moment.

9:13Welcome back. Now, the Harry Potter series are some of the most loved and best-selling books ever to be published and a new TV adaptation will be coming our way, courtesy of the American TV network HBO, who has just recently confirmed the names of actors taking on the role of some of the key characters. The Standard's culture writer and Harry Potter fan, Vicky Jessup, joins us now. So Vicky, who's in the line-up? So yeah, we've got six new cast members, Papa Isiedu, Janet McTeer and Nick Frost. They're lined up to play Severus Snape, Minerva McGonagall and Hagrid on Instagram. Papa said it was like an honour and a privilege to be going on this journey with these legends.

9:58We shall eat and we shall leave no crumbs, which I quite liked. And in addition to that, we have English actor Paul Whitehouse. He'll be playing Argus Filch. And their network has also confirmed that John Lithgow, in February, it was announced that he'd be playing the Hogwarts, Hermann, the Albus Dumbledore. That's been confirmed. And then finally, stage actor Luke Fallon will be playing Professor Quirrell. So yes, there's a lot to be getting on with there. And it's also worth noting, I think, that the actor for Lord Voldemort, or He Who Shall Not Be Named, that's not been announced yet. Although apparently there's been a fair amount of speculation that Cillian Murphy might be lined up to take the role, which would be good to fit, to be honest.

10:37Yeah, very interesting. But of course, there's still no word he'll be taking on the roles of Harry, Ron and Hermione. Do we know when those names will likely be announced? We don't really. So the actors playing the Golden Tria was there called. That's Harry, Ron and Hermione. They've not been cast yet. For the show, HBO did launch an open casting call for the three lead roles, which implies they're not really going for any kind of known child actors or anything like that. And that apparently attracted more than 30 ,000 submissions. And, you know, that's kind of quite similar to what happened with the original films.

11:11You know, Rupert Grint saw news about the casting call on Newsround and applied and got the role. So I think the last thing we've heard is that the Warner Bros. television group head, Channing Dungy, recently told Deadline that they're still weighing a couple of different options and they're not quite ready yet. So, yeah, it's all to play for. Yeah. Watch this space. Now, each book is going to be given an entire series dedicated to it. Does this mean there's more opportunity to stick a bit more closely to the original storylines than the films were able to do? yeah theoretically yes so warner bros and max which is the streaming service that will be developing the shows have said this will be like a faithful adaptation of the iconic books you know they've also really emphasized the fact it's going to be like a really detailed dive into the wisdom world and that each season will be authentic to the original books and i guess one thing that might indicate that it will be is that staky rowling um you know despite her controversial status in public opinion at the moment, she'll be serving as executive producer on the new project and she's expected to collaborate with the producers to kind of adapt her books for TV.

12:19So that all implies that, yes, this is probably going to be a more faithful adaptation of the books than anything we've yet seen. We all know, of course, that Harry Potter has got a massive fan base, people that have grown up with the books that just watch the films again and again. What's been the reaction so far from those kind of faithful fans about the idea of a new TV series? Yeah, it's been mixed, to be honest. And I think as someone who loved Harry Potter growing up, I think my reaction has been a bit mixed as well. You know, some Harry Potter fans have been quite excited at the idea of a more faithful adaptation of the books.

12:50Others have been quite sceptical. You know, they've called the move uncreative. There's also the status of J.K. Rowling, you know, her stance that she's taken in recent years towards trans people. You know, that's kind of toxified the whole issue of whether to make a new adaptation again although HBO and Max have kind of very firmly stood with her and stood by the announcement of her as an executive producer on the series and you know from purely a personal perspective it does feel like Harry Potter has turned into a slightly a cash cow you know we've had the films we've had the Hogwarts Wizarding World studios we've had the stage play we've had the Fantastic Beasts spin-off and you know it's not really been that long since the films came out So purely for me, I'm not really ready to see a new adaptation.

13:38But, you know, I'm sure it will be massively successful nevertheless. Vicky, is there any chance we might see any of the original cast members playing a part in this new adaptation? So currently, we don't really know. The only person we've heard a definitive response from on that is Daniel Radcliffe, who's saying that he won't return as the boy who lived as Harry Potter in this upcoming iteration. You know, he told Entertainment Tonight back in 2023, it seems to me they wanted to make a fresh series. And it feels like it would be distracting to have old haggard Harry also entering from stage left.

14:11Although he said he's very supportive of, you know, whoever will be donning the robes as the new Harry Potter. But, you know, he's not turning up as Harry, but that's not to say that old cast members won't be making cameos in the show. In fact, I'd be surprised if they didn't. It's such an obvious Easter egg to put in there. And so when does filming start and when can we expect to see the series on our TVs? So don't expect it on screens for a while. So in December, it was announced that the production would be beginning in summer 2025 and the show will be filmed at the Leavesden Studios in Hertfordshire, which is where the eight Harry Potter movies were also shot.

14:49But we have been given a tentative streaming date of 2026. And considering it's only starting filming in summer this year. I reckon it'll be the second half of the year as well. But you know, don't worry, because apparently the HBO's CEO has said he envisions the project running for 10 years. So that is a lot of Harry Potter once the ball gets rolling.

15:11And that's The Standard. For all the latest news, head to standard.co.uk. And if you'd like to, please do drop us a line at podcasts at standard.co.uk. This podcast will be back tomorrow at 4pm. We'll see you then.