Westminster dad loses battle to chop down trees which cause son ‘incessant coughing’

By Hannah Neary, Local Democracy Reporter

A lawyer dad has lost his battle with a council to chop down trees outside his house, saying they gave his son such bad hay fever he struggled to breathe.

Sam Robinson QC wanted to remove two silver birches from outside his large property in Little Venice because his nine-year-old son had difficulty sleeping.

But the council applied for a tree preservation order (TPO) to protect them after the application went in for them to be felled.

Mr Robinson had offered to replace them with a different species.

Tory-led Westminster City Council secured a TPO on the two 20 metre tall trees, which meant Mr Robinson needs to get formal planning permission to trim, chop or replace them.

The council’s environment experts argued there were birch trees throughout the area so chopping down those outside Mr Robinson’s home would not prevent his son’s hay fever.

Mr Robinson said: “The symptoms are incessant coughing, hives, swollen eyes to the extent that on occasion he is unable to see and these lead to breathing difficulties.

“He wakes up at night usually requiring medication. He coughs and can’t sleep.”

He said his son has had the allergy since he was little and the symptoms have got worse.

He added: “For three months during the summer we had to live in a house with windows closed. He can’t go out into the garden.”

Mr Robinson sent the council a letter from Professor Gideon Lack, professor of paediatric allergy at King’s College London, which said the young boy did not respond well to medication, the trees significantly impact his quality of life and it would be sensible to remove them

Labour councillor Guthrie McKee supported the TPO.

He said: “We must take the health of our residents first. The trees are the lungs of London. They are viable to our health and environment.

“I’m finding it difficult to imagine the removal of this tree will alleviate significantly the hay fever of this young kid.”

Tory councillor Antonia Cox said: “I’m sympathetic – one of my sons has hay fever. But the evidence isn’t conclusive because we have this very key point that it could be other birch trees producing the pollen.”

A report by council officers said: “The allergenic nature of silver birch pollen, while recognised as inconvenient, is not usually considered to be sufficient reason to remove a protected tree.

“The loss of character and amenity which results from the removal of mature trees takes a considerable length of time to restore by planting replacement trees.

“If the city council were to accept proposals for removal of mature trees on the sole basis of replacement trees being planted, this would quickly result in erosion in public amenity, and would skew the age structure of the tree population.”

The council’s planning department voted to protect the trees at a meeting on February 22.

Pictured top: Westminster City Hall