Cake Box chief loses appeal over £200k fine for felled trees
More than 130 trees were axed to make way for a driveway
Last updated 4th Nov 2025
Cake Box chief executive officer Sukh Chamdal has lost an appeal against his £200,000 sentence for cutting down more than 130 trees to make way for a driveway to a "super-duper house".
The businessman had previously admitted causing or permitting the trees to be cut down on the estate in Loughton, Essex, in March 2021.
He was handed a £200,000 fine last August and in October this year appealed against that, arguing it was "manifestly excessive".
Court of Appeal judges have dismissed his appeal and, in a judgment on Monday, Lord Justice Holgate, sitting with Mrs Justice Stacey and Judge Adrienne Lucking KC, described the fine as "proportionate to the seriousness of the offence and to the appellant's means".
Chamdal was in the process of buying the land where he wanted to build a new home for his family for £1.5 million, the judge said.
The felled trees were discovered by an officer for Epping Forest District Council, which brought the prosecution, after receiving complaints.
At least 35 individual trees were subject to a tree preservation order (TPO) at the time.
Rebecca Chalkley KC, for Chamdal, told a hearing in October that he "was entirely reliant on others" for the work in developing the area for a "super-duper house".
She said: "There were lots of trees that were in a poorly state, for want of a better word, and so the intention was to go in and, as much as possible, make good the land.
"But he did not intend for that to include trees subject to a TPO to be cut down and that is why he relied on experts."
In dismissing the appeal, Lord Justice Holgate said: "Here a large number of trees were cut down over a substantial area of land. They were trees at least 20 years old.
"They had been protected by the TPO because of their amenity value when the order was made in 2008. There was no suggestion that they ceased to have amenity value.
"The judge was entitled to rely upon the additional contribution made by those trees to biodiversity and to carbon storage.
"On that last point, the country's woodlands and trees, and the Government's policy to increase tree coverage nationally, form a significant part of the UK's contribution to achieving net zero by 2050."