A JCB and a dump truck were driven from an enclosed area on East Barnton Avenue on Tuesday night and then used to mow down a chestnut tree in Davidson’s Mains Park, planted around 2010.

Diesel was syphoned out of several of the plant vehicles which were on loan to the contractors working on an extension to the cycle path in the park who we understand to be JH Civil Engineering. The company has been asked for comment.

Local residents said this appeared to be the work of a small group of teenagers and was really very sad news.

One person who would prefer not to be named said: “This work has proceeded since the end of June without any major incident except from the general inconvenience to residents.The Chestnut had been planted around 2010 along with a number of other different trees when Douglass Cruikshank was Parks Officer. As far as I am aware these were all funded from CEC and were not memorial or other commemorative trees.

“It is a most unfortunate loss at this stage in the tree’s life since the Barnton Park, in the period before Davidson’s Mains Park was acquired by the City Council, was highly regarded for its Chestnut trees.

“During the past forty five years so many of the trees planted by the Ramsays up to 250 years ago have been lost and only a small proportion have been replaced and survived. In an era when trees are planted for carbon capture it is even more important that we should protect and preserve the trees that are already growing.”

We also asked all four Almond councillors – Cllr Norman Work, Cllr Kevin Lang, Cllr Louise Young and Cllr Lewis Younie, for comment.

Cllr Work said he was not aware of the damage but said: “I am always disappointed with any sort of vandalism, especially if this was a memorial tree. I hope that a full investigation is carried out to find out who was responsible and encourage anyone with information to contact the Police.”

A spokesperson for Police Scotland said: “Around 9.45pm on Tuesday, 12 September, 2023, we were called to a report of a disturbance in Davidson’s Mains Park, Edinburgh.

“Officers attended however there was no one present.

“Enquiries are ongoing.”

On Friday morning a local man reported on a Facebook group for the local area that he had found 40 litres of red diesel apparently stolen from the site. He confirmed he had reported it to the police.

We asked The City of Edinburgh Council who own and run the park for comment.

13/09/2023 Picture Alan Simpson Several plant vehicles had their diesel tanks drained and a JCB was taken from area they were parked up overnight at Davidson’s Mains Park and used to mow down a commemorative chestnut tree planted there.
13/09/2023 Picture Alan Simpson Several plant vehicles had their diesel tanks drained and a JCB was taken from area they were parked up overnight at Davidson’s Mains Park and used to mow down a commemorative chestnut tree planted there.
13/09/2023 Picture Alan Simpson Several plant vehicles had their diesel tanks drained and a JCB was taken from area they were parked up overnight at Davidson’s Mains Park and used to mow down a commemorative chestnut tree planted there.
13/09/2023 Picture Alan Simpson Several plant vehicles had their diesel tanks drained and a JCB was taken from area they were parked up overnight at Davidson’s Mains Park and used to mow down a commemorative chestnut tree planted there.
13/09/2023 Picture Alan Simpson Several plant vehicles had their diesel tanks drained and a JCB was taken from area they were parked up overnight at Davidson’s Mains Park and used to mow down a commemorative chestnut tree planted there.
13/09/2023 Picture Alan Simpson Several plant vehicles had their diesel tanks drained and a JCB was taken from area they were parked up overnight at Davidson’s Mains Park and used to mow down a commemorative chestnut tree planted there.
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Phyllis Stephen
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Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.