TAXPAYERS must foot a bill of almost £70,000 after a High Court battle over four trees was lost by Tandridge District Council.
Thirteen months ago the council took legal action against Village Developments Plc and ATC Arboriculturalists for allegedly killing off four protected oak trees on green belt land off Chichele Road, Oxted.
The council claimed the trees had been ring-barked – sawn into – shortly after a Tree Preservation Order (TPO) had been placed on them.
The firms contested the prosecution and the TPO was quashed.
A judge ruled that neither the Outwood-based property firm – which plans to build about 140 homes on the site – nor tree surgeons ATC had been made aware of the order, and the council had not served the order correctly.
A Freedom of Information question has revealed the council paid Village Development £57,000 in costs.
It also incurred legal costs of its own of almost £12,000.