Horndon-on-the-Hill group celebrates victory for 100-year-old oak
The holm oak, an evergreen broadleaf tree, is rooted in the grounds of a listed building near Saffron Close.
Planning officers told the council it could be liable for £45,000 costs to underpin the tree, while an engineer warned that figure could rise to £180,000.In their report, the engineer said a nearby affected property was in danger of "imminent collapse".But councillors refused to lift the TPO, saying its value to residents outweighed the risk of future costs.Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service after the meeting, Mr Vereker said it was "a victory for what is right"."We all want to recognise our local councillors for being brave and doing the right thing in the face of nasty intimidation."
'Iconic'
The tree survived a previous bid to fell it eight years ago over concerns about subsidence.During the latest debate, resident Peter Woodard said the tree was "iconic" in the village."Do not be like the despised vandals who cut down the tree from the Sycamore Gap," he urged councillors.Conservative councillor Jacqui Maney also said felling the tree would have been morally and ethically "appalling".
Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Telegraph
38 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Swinney's high tax boast ‘offensive' to Scots, say Tories
John Swinney has been criticised for arguing that the UK Government could have avoided a 'fiscal nightmare' by emulating his party's tax assault on higher earners. Opposition politicians described the SNP leader's claim as 'deluded' and 'offensive' to many families in Scotland who pay more income tax than those south of the border. Mr Swinney responded after Sir Keir Starmer was forced into a U-turn on his flagship welfare reform programme following a rebellion by backbench Labour MPs. Writing for The Scotsman on Friday, the First Minister said: 'Labour could have avoided the fiscal nightmare currently tearing them apart if Keir Starmer had the courage to do what the SNP have done, and ask high earners to pay more tax.' It prompted a backlash from the Scottish Conservatives, who described Mr Swinney's position as 'astonishing' and accused him of 'contempt for hard-working, over-taxed Scots'. The party also highlighted that the SNP had presided over sluggish economic growth north of the border. 'To boast that hiking taxes is an act of courage by the SNP is deluded and offensive,' said Craig Hoy, the Scottish Conservative shadow finance secretary. 'The brave thing to do would be to reduce Scotland's unaffordable benefits bill and bloated public sector, as the Scottish Conservatives are committed to doing. 'But John Swinney repeatedly ducks that challenge in favour of yet more tax hikes which are choking economic growth and squeezing household budgets to breaking point. 'Keir Starmer is deeply unpopular precisely because he has clobbered the public and businesses with a series of tax rises which broke Labour's pre-election promises. 'It beggars belief that the SNP leader, who has made Scotland the highest taxed part of the UK, thinks the Prime Minister should actually be raising taxes further still on hard-working households.' At present, workers in Scotland who earn more than £30,300 pay more into the state than their English and Welsh counterparts. The tax differential rises with earnings, with a taxpayer on a £50,000 annual salary paying £1,528 more a year in Scotland than in the rest of the UK. An individual on £100,000 pays £3,332 more and those earning at least £125,000 pay £5,221 more, equivalent to a 7 per cent reduction in their after-tax income. Earlier in the week, Mr Swinney accused the UK government of taking an 'absolutely appalling' approach to reform. Labour ministers were forced to U-turn on some cuts to Universal Credit and plans to introduce stricter eligibility rules for personal independence payment (Pip) claimants. The changes to Pip would not have directly applied in Scotland, where the benefit is being phased out for a devolved alternative but could have affected the amount of money allocated to Holyrood. Ian Murray, the Scottish Secretary, has said that failure to reform the welfare system will see it 'explode in terms of [it] being unsustainable financially for the taxpayer, but also we're writing hundreds of thousands of people out of the workforce.'
Times
38 minutes ago
- Times
Reform council bans trans books from children's section of libraries
A Reform council has banned transgender-related books from children's sections of council libraries 'in a victory for common sense in Kent'. Linden Kemkaran, the leader of Kent county council, said the books would be removed immediately. Writing on social media, Kemkaran said: 'Telling children they're in the 'wrong body' is wrong and simply unacceptable.' Kemkaran posted a photo a book named The Autistic Trans Guide to Life as an example. The book appeared to have been put on temporary display for Pride month at Herne Bay Library. A number of locals said on social media that the display was in the welcome area of the library, not the children's section. The ban was overseen by Paul Webb, a Reform councillor. In a video, he said: 'I was contacted by a concerned member of the public who found trans ideological material and books in the children's section of one of our libraries. • Here in Kent they want to stop the boats. Did voting Reform help? 'I've today issued an instruction for all of it to be removed from the children's section of any our our libraries. They do not belong there, our children to do not need to be told they were born in the wrong bodies. From today, this will stop.' Reform won outright control of Kent county council at the local elections in May. Kemkaran has previously refused to fly a rainbow flag for Pride month, and said she saw having a Ukrainian flag in the council chamber as a 'distraction'. The council has also launched a 'Doge' cost-cutting campaign inspired by Elon Musk, in which Reform's former chairman, Zia Yusuf, has taken a personal interest. Antony Hook, the Liberal Democrat leader of the council opposition, said it was 'bizarre' that Reform had announced the move on social media rather than at a council meeting. He said he had asked the head of Kent's libraries for a list of which books would be removed. Tristan Osborne, the Labour MP for Chatham & Aylesford, said the decision was 'unedifying baiting of the LGBT community'. Defending the decision, Webb told the BBC: 'In our society, children are quite rightly and properly protected from items and actions that could cause them harm — for example alcohol, cigarettes and gambling. 'My fellow Reform members and I believe that our young people should be protected from exposure to potentially harmful ideologies and beliefs such as those held by the trans lobbyists. 'As far as impact assessments are concerned, I would have thought that question should have been asked before these books were placed in the children's section to begin with.' Kent county council runs 99 community libraries and five mobile library vans. It is not yet clear whether the ban will cover Medway council, with which the council runs some joint agencies.
BBC News
42 minutes ago
- BBC News
Corbyn's new party - is it happening and could it damage Labour?
High profile left winger Zarah Sultana has quit Labour and vowed to launch a new political party with Jeremy however, seems to have come as news to a social media post, the former Labour leader congratulated Sultana on her "principled decision" to leave and said he was "delighted that she will help us build a real alternative".But he said "the democratic foundations of a new kind of political party" were still taking shape and discussions were "ongoing".Sultana appears to have jumped the gun, taking not just Corbyn but others involved in the project by that does not mean it is not is no name yet - Aspire and The Collective have been bandied about. Corbyn is thought to like the phrase "Real Change", but not necessarily as a party timetable for a launch has been agreed, although there has been talk of fielding candidates at next May's local all of those involved in the project believe there is a huge gap in the market to the left of Sir Keir Starmer's Labour Party, with millions of potential votes up for they right?And what would the arrival of a new socialist party mean for the Greens who have scooped up many left-wing voters in recent times - not to mention the Labour Party itself? It is very difficult to assess support for a party that does not yet exist, has no leader and no More In Common recently tested the sort of support a party to the left of Labour would have – specifically one led by Jeremy research suggested it could pick up 10% of the vote - reducing Labour's standing by three points but far more dramatically eating in to support for the Greens, which would fall from 9% to 5% in the a Corbyn-led party could become the country's most popular party among 18- to 24-year-olds with 32% of the vote. Former Corbyn aide Andrew Murray said Sir Keir Starmer had "created the space" for a party to Labour's left by ruthlessly expelling left wingers from the party and dropping his leadership campaign to GB News's Choppers Podcast, Murray said Labour's 2017 vote - 3.2 million more than Sir Keir's in 2024 - showed the scale of potential support for a new left-wing of votes had leaked away from the Tories to Reform UK at last year's election, he added, and "there are similarly huge numbers of people who regard themselves as progressives and are looking for something different." A veteran left-wing organiser, who did not wish to be named, told the BBC even with a double digit share of the national vote it is "quite hard for new parties to become positive forces in the UK"."I think it could do quite a lot of damage to Labour and the Greens if it gets above a critical mass," he said. Senior Greens have told the BBC they are not worried about a new insurgent leadership hopeful Zack Polanski said "anyone who wants to challenge Reform and this failing Labour government is a friend of mine".But he added: "In the past there's been lots of left-wing parties, but only the Green Party has endured and had sustained growth."Polanski's point was echoed by his leadership contest rival Adrian Ramsay, who currently co-leads the party, and said anyone looking for a "progressive alternative to Labour" should join the damage to the Greens could be limited by a "non-aggression" pact with the new party, running candidates on a joint ticket, for example, or agreeing to stand aside in certain circumstances. Jeremy Corbyn has been working for some time under the radar to turn the small group of independent MPs he co-ordinates into a full-blown political party which could stand candidates at the local elections next year, the Islington North MP united with Shockat Adam, Ayoub Khan, Adnan Hussain and Iqbal Mohamed - four independents that beat Labour candidates in the 2024 election with their pro-Palestinian stance in constituencies with large Muslim Wednesday he hinted that a new party could be on the way, telling ITV's Peston he and his fellow pro-Gaza independents would "come together" and "there will be an alternative". The MPs are united in their condemnation of Keir Starmer's approach to the Gaza crisis, but we don't know what their rest of their policy programme would be. We do not even know for certain that Jeremy Corbyn would be their leader. He is thought to favour a democratic convention to decide on leadership but others in the project are impatient to get on with it. Sultana is clearly keen to play a leading role, although her statement was carefully worded - she wants to co-lead the "founding" of a new party with thing is already clear - any new party will not be a reincarnation of the previous Corbyn project, as key figures on Labour's left show no sign of former shadow chancellor John McDonell said he was "dreadfully sorry to lose Zarah from the Labour Party" but is not expected to quit chair of the Labour party under Corbyn - Ian Lavery – told the BBC he planned to stay in the party until he retired. The Independent MPs were elected last year in areas where voters felt Labour wasn't taking a strong enough line on Israel's actions in don't know how resonant the issue will be at the next election, four years where Keir Starmer's strategists might be concerned is that a new left-wing party might just reduce the Labour vote by enough in some seats to allow a second-placed Reform UK to sneak Labour may have to be more mindful that it can lose votes on the left and not just the was once seen as close to impossible to successfully launch a new political party in the UK, under Westminster's first-past-the-post voting Reform UK, which has five MPs and is currently ahead in the polls, has shown how volatile politics now is and the extent to which traditional party loyalties no longer matter. A well-known leader and some eye-catching policies could potentially redraw the map of mainstream politics. Sign up for our Politics Essential newsletter to keep up with the inner workings of Westminster and beyond.
