VILLAGERS are mourning the end of an era after highways chiefs announced that a 120-year-old tree was posing a threat to public safety.
The sycamore tree at Scorton, near Richmond, was condemned at a public meeting after only recently being given an 11th hour stay of execution.
North Yorkshire County Council is to pull down the 40ft tree after specialists ruled that it was in a dangerous condition.
The giant tree, which stands at the junction of the B6271 Northallerton road and the B1263, had been the subject of a long-running debate.
But North Yorkshire's director of environmental services, Mike Moore, said: "In the case of a dangerous tree standing on the highway we have to protect the public if there is a chance of the tree, or part of it, coming down."
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