Restaurant owners apologise for chopping down 80 trees after backlash

A South Lanarkshire restaurant has apologised for its “insensitive” decision to cut down 80 trees nearby to “open up space”.

Owners of The Osprey in East Kilbride felled dozens of trees last week, causing an outpouring of anger from the local community and others on social media, who threatened to boycott the restaurant.

Scottish Forestry is now investigating the incident because there was “no felling permission in place for this work”, a spokesperson told The Independent.

“We’re sorry. We got this wrong,” the eatery’s owners, the Birk family, said in a statement on Facebook. Previous social media posts from earlier this month suggest the restaurant is currently closed for refurbishment.

“We have to hold up our hands and say we made a mistake in clearing the wooded area in front of the restaurant.”

They had cut down the trees to “open up the space at the front and possibly extend the car park in future”, the Birks added.

“There were no tree preservation orders and the restaurant is not in a conservation area but we know this is not an excuse for the insensitive call to take away the trees,” they said.

The investigation will look into whether the family was acting within the rules by chopping down the trees.

Fraser Carlin, head of planning at South Lanarkshire Council, told East Kilbride News: "I can confirm that the trees were not the subject of tree preservation orders and so no permission was needed or granted.

"However, we can advise that in some instances felling permission may be required from Scottish Forestry."

Local MSP Collette Stevenson said she was advised by the head of planning and regulatory services at South Lanarkshire Council “that they don't own the land and that a Tree Preservation Order was not in place”.

“Given the public interest, it's vitally important to establish the facts, and to verify what happens next,” she said.

The family said they will now replant young trees and bring a landscape architect to look at the area.

“We hope you will all give us another chance, to show you who we really are and what we hope to bring to the local community,” the statement added.

Would-be customers were divided in their responses, with many not sold by the apology.

“So you're replanting it. That's nice! Maybe I can come in for a meal in 40 years’ time for my 90th birthday, and have some beautiful woodland to look out onto, rather than a noisy dual carriageway,” one comment read.

Another commenter said it is “much easier to ask for forgiveness than permission”, while a third said the Birk family was attempting to “underplay the significance of what has been done”.

Other commenters praised the family for apologising and accused people of having had an “excessive” reaction to the felled trees.

Scottish Forestry said that it takes “all reports of alleged unauthorised felling very seriously”.

“There is no felling permission in place for this work so we have now opened up an investigation and today visited the site for inspection,” it said in a statement.

“Now that an investigation has been opened it would not be appropriate to comment further on this case until it is concluded and next steps decided.”