One council wants to keep it but another says it has to chop it down. Result: a £250,000 bill for taxpayers

Blogging of trees as the Northerner just has been, there's an interesting stand-off developing around a beech at the centre of a North Yorkshire village.

On the ground at Irton near Scarborough are local people with carrier bags of supplies and warm drinks. Up in the branches is Mark 'Snoz' Snow, 38 and a joiner from the town.

He clambered aloft on Tuesday night in the latest stage of a saga which began in 2006 and is estimated to have public funds more than £250,000. It began when a local resident complained that the 18m (60ft) tree's roots were affecting drains and a high boundary wall. North Yorkshire county council sent an inspector.

Trees are going to be even more popular in a few weeks, as autumn puts on its show. Photograph: Alamy

A court order to fell the tree followed but the situation was complicated because Scarborough district council had meanwhile put on the exact opposite, a tree preservation order. The law is seldom swift and hence the five year saga; but this month the chainsaws looked inevitable, until Snow heard of local anger and disappointment and intervened.

Like an aerial version of Swampy, he has strapped himself to the branches and says he's there for the duration, until the tree gets a reprieve. You can watch the Scarborough Evening News film of police trying in vain to talk him down here.

He also tells BBC North Yorkshire:



I couldn't see anything else that could be possibly done other than direct action. It just seems ridiculous to cut one down that's an established 100-year-old tree that's been here longer than the house next to it and it's got a preservation order on it. I've got plenty of ropes up here I just lower carrier bags down and people fill them with goods. I'm getting lots of support, it's fantastic.



North Yorkshire says that it is bound by statutory obligations and as highways authority must act according to the law. But trees are famous for attracting protectors.

Snoz's father, Peter Snow, is another one. He says:

I was a bit concerned about the health and safety aspect of it but when I've come down to have a look at it, I really am proud of him for what he's doing.



Another villager. Shirley Marshall, has written a eulogy for the tree which she recited on our TV news, and very eloquent it was.