Elmbridge council removes tree branch used by banned football supporter to watch matches at Cobham FC

• Elmbridge Borough Council removed a tree branch at Leg O'Mutton Field, Cobham, after a banned Epsom & Ewell FC supporter used it to watch matches from outside the ground.
• The council said the branch was removed for health and safety reasons, describing it as too small to safely bear weight.
• A Freedom of Information disclosure reveals a member of the public first reported the activity to the council on 8 August 2025, prompting an exchange with the Greenspaces team.
• The council's Greenspaces team confirmed that tree climbing is not a criminal offence under Elmbridge's greenspace byelaws, though it noted associated criminal activity could change that assessment.
• The matter was referred to the council's tree officer, anti-social behaviour team, and flagged for discussion at a Joint Action Group meeting with local police.

Elmbridge Borough Council has confirmed it removed a tree branch at Leg O'Mutton Field in Cobham after a banned supporter of Epsom & Ewell FC was repeatedly climbing it to watch home matches from outside the ground.

The disclosure, released under a Freedom of Information request, reveals a chain of correspondence between a member of the public, council officers, and ultimately the council's communications team, spanning August and September 2025.

The original complaint was submitted on 8 August 2025 via the council's contact form. The complainant — who stated they had seen the activity with their own eyes, as well as reading about it in a BBC news report — said a supporter who had been banned from attending Epsom & Ewell FC matches was climbing a tree on the public green space outside the Reg Madgwick Stadium to watch games. The complainant asked whether tree climbing in a public space was a prohibited activity and whether the council intended to act.

In response, the council's Greenspaces team told the complainant on 15 August that tree climbing is not a criminal offence on public open spaces and is not covered by Elmbridge's greenspace byelaws. The team noted that if the climbing were associated with criminal activity — such as vandalism or gaining unlawful access to a property — it could become a criminal matter. It also suggested the football club might technically have grounds to pursue the individual for theft, by virtue of his watching matches without paying, though it acknowledged that proving this retrospectively would be difficult.

The Greenspaces team said the matter would be referred to the council's tree officer, flagged to its anti-social behaviour team, and raised at a Joint Action Group meeting with local police.

On the same date, in an earlier message, the Greenspaces team had told the complainant that once the tree officer returned from annual leave, he would remove the branch the individual had been sitting on. The complainant subsequently noted that no vandalism had been associated with the tree climbing, other than potential damage to the tree itself, and provided the dates of the club's next two home fixtures — 29 August and 5 September 2025 — so that timing of the branch removal could be considered accordingly.

In a separate letter included in the disclosure, addressed to a councillor, the council's communications team confirmed the branch had been removed. The team stated it had been cut on health and safety grounds, describing the branch as relatively small and not structurally capable of supporting weight, and said its removal was necessary to prevent potential injury. The letter made no reference to the banned supporter by name.

The disclosure also includes a letter from a committee member of Epsom & Ewell FC, which provided the council with background on the situation, confirming that the club had issued the individual with a lifetime ban and that he had subsequently taken to watching games from the tree, attracting media coverage including a BBC report.