Labour-run Islington Council in North London has been heavily criticised for chopping down a £10,000 pear tree, because one local complained he was allergic to wasp stings.
Council workers cut down the 30ft tree against the advice of experts on the grounds of health and safety, after a resident complained that it attracted the insects. Specialist tree officers said the 25-year old tree should not be removed unless it was diseased or dying, but councillors voted to get rid of it "just in case."
Opposition Liberal Democrat councillors attacked the decision, calling it a "chainsaw massacre." They argue that the council has ignored its own policy of preventing healthy trees being cut down and have set a "dangerous precedent."
However, Labour councillor Richard Greening defended the move, saying that they had received a report of wasps living in the tree - despite a council report finding that nobody had ever been stung by wasps living in the tree and that there was no evidence of a wasps nest in it.
He said, "The residents live there and if they say they have seen wasps there is no reason to doubt them. The risk is so high for people with allergies that on this occasion it was worth going against tree officers."
