A HOMEOWNER who spent £3,000 on a sycamore tree has been left devastated after it was chopped down by developers.
Cris Cohen, a dad-of-two, returned to his home in Clayton, Staffordshire, last week to find his family's beloved tree was missing.
A nearby Christmas tree and pyracantha bush had also been removed.
Cris had spent thousands of pounds on having the sycamore pruned and properly maintained in recent years.
But a housing provider has now apologised after sub-contractors mistakenly removed the tree on the boundary line.
The chef, who works at local pub Feasted in Stoke, is now seeking compensation.
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He said: "The tree was almost exclusively on our property and sat very marginally on the boundary line.
"It provided quite a substantial screen at the back of our garden and there's no way it should have be removed, especially as we had no notification, no requests, no contact whatsoever about it.
"I spoke to the new tenant in the house behind and he told us that Aspire was working on the property to get it in order.
"I went to Aspire and said they had taken out our tree, and asked what they were going to do about it – but they said it was nothing to do with them or their sub-contractors.
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"I just wanted them to admit it and offer some form of compensation, even though it can't bring back the tree.
"I bring my kids up to take responsibility and I encourage my team at Feasted to work with responsibility."
Aspire Housing says it has "profusely apologised" to Cris.
Head of delivery David Jones added: "We have been in discussion with Mr Cohen regarding the removal of a tree on his property.
Following a further review of this matter, we have identified that this work was carried out by a sub-contractor appointed to clear the garden of the adjoining Aspire-owned property.
"We would like to profusely apologise to Mr Cohen and his family – both for the unnecessary removal of this tree and for the incorrect initial response we provided to him.
"We have been in touch with Mr Cohen directly to apologise, and we will be working to identify an appropriate resolution.
"We will also be investigating further with our sub-contractor to properly understand how this incident occurred and to prevent anything like this from happening again."
It comes after a 1,000-year-old yew tree that witnessed the Battle of Hastings was felled earlier this week – sparking outrage.
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