A planning consultant and his client took what a judge described as a “deliberate and cynical” step to avoid alerting Crawley Borough Council that protected trees were under threat – and then cut them down.

Philip Rowe of Newdigate, the consultant, was fined a total of £7,000 and Caroline Wiltshire of Wiltshire’s Farm Shop Pound Hill, was fined £2,250. Both also were ordered to pay substantial costs.

The court also heard that Mrs Wiltshire, as a joint owner of the land, has been served with a tree replacement notice which could cost up to £75,000.

The pair pleaded guilty at Chichester Crown Court on Wednesday last (20 April), to causing or permitting the felling of five English oak trees at land on Balcombe Road in Pound Hill in May 2014.

A Tree Preservation Order (TPO) had been confirmed in 2013 and the defendants were notified, though in court both denied having received this notification.