Protesters 'willing to get arrested' to save threatened A303 oak tree

Protesters occupying an oak tree to stop it being cut down for a major road scheme, say they are "willing to get arrested by resisting non-violently".

The tree, near Sparkford in Somerset, is set to be cleared to make way for a slip road as part of a £250m National Highways project to dual the A303.

Simon Be is among a group of protesters who are occupying the tree.

"Our biodiversity in Britain is plummeting. We need to resist yet more needless destruction," he said.

The protesters believe that the oak is about 600 years old.

However, National Highways said it believed the tree to be 400-450 years old.

"The tree was not subject to a protection order and was deemed a veteran tree throughout the DCO process," a National Highways spokesman said.

Protesters have been surrounding the tree for nearly three weeks in attempts to convince National Highways to move the slip road and leave the oak tree in place, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) reported.

Extinction Rebellion and BBC Springwatch presenter Chris Packham have added their support, with Mr Packham calling the oak a "magnificent" and "beautiful" tree.

"It's important, precious, a treasure [and] needs to be cherished," he said.

He called on National Highways to "rethink" its decision.

A National Highways spokesman said removing the tree was "a last resort" but moving the slip road would have resulted in "severe delays".

"Where we plan to remove old trees on the A303 Sparkford scheme, we have made sure to investigate other possibilities to see if we can avoid removal. Sadly, that was not possible on this occasion," they added.

An appeal made to the High Court to secure the tree's future was supported by deputy mayor of Glastonbury, Indra Donfrancesco, but was unsuccessful.

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