A builder who hacked into a 100-year-old protected “landmark” tree in Burntisland with a chainsaw, killing it in a fit of “frustration”, has been fined.
Robert Wilkie, 59, of Bangholm Terrace, Edinburgh, pleaded guilty at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court to wilfully damaging the tree contrary to a tree preservation order on June 16 last year.
Wilkie has twice applied for planning permission to build homes on a piece of land on Kinghorn Road, Burntisland, but failed after a deluge of objections by neighbours and even the local MSP.
They feared Wilkie’s development would end up killing the towering sycamore described as a local landmark and an “ancient symbol” of the area.
Fife Council put in place an additional tree preservation order in 2012 to protect the tree, which sat in grounds next to a home owned by Wilkie on Kinghorn Road.
The court heard Wilkie sold the land which the tree sits on for £10,000 to his daughter and that she had last year applied for permission to build flats on it.
That application was put in on the same day Wilkie took a chainsaw to the tree.
He was overheard saying he was “tired of people telling him what to do”.
Sheriff James Williamson told Wilkie he could face a fine of up to £20,000 but instead hit him with a £400 penalty.
He added: “He has effectively destroyed a tree that was a local landmark.
“It’s quite shocking behaviour.”