The tree in Dent after the work was carried out. Photo: Yorkshire Dales NPA

A second person has been convicted after a healthy tree was damaged in the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

Dent tree surgeon Ian Middleton was fined £700 at York Crown Court and was ordered to pay £1,300 costs to the national park authority, which brought the prosecution.

Middleton carried out work severely cutting back the 200-year-old sycamore at High Laning caravan and campsite at the village in Cumbria. A member of the public complained about the work, prompting enforcement action by the authority.

Middleton had entered a not guilty plea at York Magistrates’ Court on 14 January, when his co-accused, Margaret Taylor of High Laning admitted breaching section 211 of the Town and Country Planning Act and was fined £2,000 plus costs.

However, he pleaded guilty at the crown court last week.

A national park authority spokesperson said: “The crown court judge made clear that Ian Middleton was misled by Margaret Taylor into thinking that the work on the tree was permissible.

“However, the judge also pointed out that Dent was a well known conservation area and that Mr Middleton should have known that checks were needed before carrying out any work.”