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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Sami Quadri

MP warns decision on future of Northumberland’s Sycamore Gap on Hadrian’s Wall has ‘significant complications’

An MP has warned that there are “significant complications” around the future of the Sycamore Gap site.

Hundreds of people have suggested plans for the future of the site after the 300-year-old tree was felled nearly two weeks ago in what police have called an act of vandalism.

The 70ft tree grew in a dip in the hills next to Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland.

The felling of the healthy tree, which featured in the 1991 Hollywood film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, triggered an outcry, with politicians and environmentalists demanding that those responsible be brought to justice

Hexham MP Guy Opperman said it is not simple to find a new location as Hadrian’s Wall and the land around it is a UNESCO world heritage site.

"In the short term, the National Trust have secured the site and saved seeds," the Conservative MP said.

Mr Opperman said he had met with the director general of the National Trust and Lord Parkinson, the government’s culture and heritage minister, about the tree.

“We discussed what the National Trust, who own the land, are doing on the site and began to set out a road map for the future," he said.

"We know that this tree belonged to everyone. It symbolised so much. Its loss grieves us, and affects us all in a truly unfathomable way.

"I want to thank the hundreds of people who have got in touch. I am trying to answer everyone but the situation is complex. The National Trust own the land, and it is located in Northumberland National Park.

"Hadrian’s Wall itself and the land around it is a UNESCO World Heritage site, which brings significant complications."

Police arrested Walter Renwick, 69, a former lumberjack, who was released on bail from Newcastle upon Tyne police station last week. A 16-year-old boy was also questioned and released.

Renwick and his family deny he had any involvement in felling the tree.

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