THE unauthorised felling and removal of two trees within the churchyard of Holy Trinity and St Jude, Halifax, had the result that the Vicar, the Revd Stuart Stobart, and the churchwardens needed to apply for a confirmatory faculty to authorise retroactively the removal of the trees felled in error.
In November 2022, an arboricultural safety assessment really useful various works within the churchyard, including the felling of three trees: a sycamore, an elm, and a wild cherry. In June 2023, a college was obtained authorising the felling, and making provision for what was called compensation planting, with details on location and species to be agreed with the Archdeacon.
A quote of £1250 was received by Meristem Arboriculture and Forestry to undertake the work. In July, the corporate carried out the work, in the middle of which its employees felled two trees that weren’t covered by the school. The company was ordered by the Consistory Court of the diocese of Leeds to be made a further party to the applying for a confirmatory faculty and to file evidence.
Luke Naylor, who described himself as the corporate’s “owner”, took responsibility for the error. In an email, he wrote: “We are sorry for this happening and hope it won’t reflect badly on future works we may do for the church.”
The Chancellor, the Worshipful Mark Hill KC, said that he couldn’t “help but be concerned at Mr Naylor’s candid response to certainly one of the questions posed” when he said that he was “not familiar” with the school jurisdiction. The Chancellor found that a “surprising response from someone who elsewhere in his reply had expressed the hope that his company’s illegal activity wouldn’t reflect badly on any future church-related work it would do”.
The Chancellor then emphasised that “those whose business includes work on church buildings or in churchyards of the Church of England have to be acquainted with the method and procedures of the school jurisdiction and have a firm grasp of the principle that unless a college (or other authorisation) has been obtained, any work done will likely be illegal.”
The Chancellor said that he had given some thought to adding a condition to the school that neither Mr Naylor nor his company be approved for work within the diocese for a specified period. But he had decided not to do this, owing to Mr Naylor’s “contrition, and the indisputable fact that the felling of the mistaken trees was an accidental oversight fairly than a deliberate disregard of the [faculty] jurisdiction”. Mr Naylor had conceded that a costs liability would inevitably fall on him.
The confirmatory faculty was granted provided that compensatory planting was undertaken at the corporate’s expense in a way to be approved by the Archdeacon. The costs of and occasioned by the court proceedings were ordered to be borne by the corporate. The quantum of costs will likely be assessed by the Registrar.
