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England's 'Tree of the Year' felled in Hackney to make way for development

A 150-year-old tree that was voted England's 2020 Tree of the Year in a Woodland Trust competition was felled in Hackney, London, on January 5 as part of a housing redevelopment.

Local campaigners had argued that the Happy Man Tree, named after a now-demolished pub, could have been incorporated into the design of the redevelopment.

The developer, Berkeley Homes, told The Hackney Citizen that mitigation, including "65 additional trees" outweighed the loss of the Happy Man Tree.

In video by Friends of the Happy Man Tree, cries of "shame on you" are heard as the tree is felled.