In response to a complaint from the Friends of the Lakes Estate Conservation Area about unauthorised tree surgery, an Enfield council officer has written warning against scams operated by rogue tree surgeons - in this case, by a firm called Acacia Tree Surgery.Email from Enfield Council Tree Officer (slightly abridged)
I visited the property today and spoke with the lady who allowed the work – it seems to me she was genuinely unaware of the restriction to tree work in conservation areas without first applying to the Council
The contractor who carried out the work had put a leaflet through the property owner’s door and convinced her that the tree needed the work for safety reasons because it was diseased, which is completely untrue. The contractor’s name is Acacia Tree Surgery – I would urge you to warn local residents in the Lakes Estate Conservation Area not to use this company, or indeed any trader who puts leaflets through peoples’ doors claiming to provide professional tree services. Aside from having a clear disregard for the presence of any statutory protection of trees, they are untrained (apparent from the barbaric work they have carried out) and probably uninsured.
They also conned the property owner out of more money than they had originally quoted once they started pruning the tree by claiming its condition was far worse than they had originally thought, and therefore had to cut the tree’s branches back more severely – another hallmark of a ‘rogue trader’.
I have passed the matter on to the Planning Enforcement Team who will investigate the matter further. The property owner has been verbally warned in the meantime.
