tree preservation bylaw<\/a> has added protections for trees with trunks more than 50 centimetres in diameter. Among those protections are rules against damaging the tree’s root zone.<\/p>\nShawna Chambers, the city’s director of climate, forestry and waste services, told CBC News that on Tuesday the city issued an “order to discontinue activities” at 7 Cathcart under the tree preservation bylaw. <\/p>\n
“That was associated with excavation close to the root zone,” said Chambers. “The property owner complied and is now not excavating that area anymore.” <\/p>\n
Chambers said the city has been in discussion with the property owner about the tree throughout the development application process. <\/p>\n
![\"This](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1793484016_6_default.jpg\")
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This is the property at 7 Cathcart St. The oak tree in the backyard of 107 Bruce St. can be seen in the background. (Andrew Lupton\/CBC News)<\/p>\n
The house at 7 Cathcart St. is owned by developer Ravensworth Inc. <\/p>\n
Company president Dave Tennant said he’s complying with the city’s orders while considering his options. <\/p>\n
Conflicting arborist opinions<\/p>\n
He sent CBC News an arborist report his company commissioned from CLC Tree Services. It says the tree is “in major decline and exhibits structural concerns.”<\/p>\n
The report says removal of the tree is the preferred option “given the health and structural concerns to eliminate any hazard this tree may pose.”<\/p>\n
The report points to what it calls spots of decay on the tree. <\/p>\n
However Alex Morrison of Conservatree, the arborist Henning hired, said he believes the tree is “of high quality” and can continue to stand with regular care. <\/p>\n
He said older trees can often be saved through a process called “re-trenching” which involves cutting parts of the canopy away to reduce the weight of the limbs and allow the tree remain stable as it ages.<\/p>\n
As for the dirt pile, Morrison said it could damage the tree’s roots. <\/p>\n
“This needs to be removed as soon as possible,” he told CBC News. “It suffocates the roots and it compacts the soil underneath it. At the end of the day, that could be very damaging for the tree.” <\/p>\n
Chambers said the city’s arborists have looked at the pile and “are not recommending its removal at this time.” <\/p>\n
![\"Posters](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1793484017_572_default.jpg\")
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Posters like this have been appearing around Wortley Village informing residents about the threat to the oak tree at 107 Bruce St. (Andrew Lupton\/CBC News)<\/p>\n
Henning said he understands the city’s position about keeping the dirt pile in place “they’re the experts, not me.” <\/p>\n
However, he also considers the timing of the CLC report suspicious, given that it’s dated Oct. 21, the day after the city issued its order to stop working. Ravensworth, through its lawyer McKenzie Lake, also sent Rob Henning a letter on Oct. 21 claiming qualified arborists “including an arborist for the City of London” have inspected the tree and “identified its hazardous condition.” <\/p>\n
Chambers said there’s no city report describing the tree as dangerous. Ravensworth’s lawyers letter calls on Henning to take steps to “eliminate the hazard” including “arranging for the removal of the tree by a qualified contractor.” <\/p>\n
Tennant said he’s has liability concerns given the trees size and condition, which he said has implications for insurance for both Henning and Ravensworth. <\/p>\n
Henning said he’s happy the city is working with the property owner.<\/p>\n
“My main issue is I want the city’s bylaw to be followed,” he said. <\/p>\n
Henning said he put up the posters around Wortley Village about the tree removal to let the neighbourhood know the tree was under threat. <\/p>\n
“This is not a neighbour dispute,” he said. “There’s a bylaw in place to protect the tree and we want the tree protected.” <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A map showing the corner in Wortley Village where the tree is located. (CBC News) Since he became…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":663066,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[242,85,46,141],"class_list":["post-663065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=663065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/663066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=663065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=663065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=663065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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