A petition to increase legal protection for trees set up in the wake of the "deliberate felling" of Sycamore Gap is almost at 100,000 signatures.

The tree, a Northumberland landmark known across the world after its appearance in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, was felled overnight between September 27 and 28 in a "deliberate act of vandalism". Two more arrests were made on Wednesday, both men in their 30s, as Northumbria Police's investigation continues.

Following the felling, Jillian Simon, of Dalkeith in Midlothian, set up a petition in the hope of forcing the Government to give ancient trees legal rights in line with ancient monuments, and to create local community legal rights to appeal against the felling of trees more than 40 years old. Currently, trees have no automatic right of protection and there is no equivalent to Scheduled Ancient Monument status - unlike Hadrian's Wall, which the tree stood next to.

• Read more: Still 'a lot of anger' after Sycamore Gap felling which has 'cost the county', Northumberland pub manager says

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As well as Sycamore Gap, Jillian points to the recent felling of an ancient yew tree which predate the Battle of Hastings for the need for legal reform in this area. An outgoing Green Party campaigner, Jillian has been approached from around the UK from people who want to prevent trees being felled - unlike in the case of Sycamore Gap - by their local councils and developers, but says that under current legislation: "there's not a lot we can do."

Jillian told ChronicleLive: "People have connections with trees, they have traditions, but when trees are felled there's not a lot we can do. And that's where I feel we need to put some legal protections in for trees to legally protect them."

Though she has never visited Sycamore Gap, she had planned to visit in August but went for a trip to Wales instead, a decision she now "bitterly regrets". Jillian continued: "I'm never going to be able to photograph that beautiful tree and I think there are going to be generations to come where all that's left is a photograph.

"It means a lot to people that tree, it's really sad. The huge outcry reminded me of all the other smaller groups of people around the country who are crying out for action, and that this is an opportunity to bring people together for a nationwide campaign.

"It could bring all the campaigns against tree felling under one umbrella, and it might be an effective way of tackling all the smaller tree-felling incidents."

At the time of writing, the petition has over 96,000 signatures. After 100,000 signatures, petitions are considered for debate in Parliament.

She said: "I'm pretty overwhelmed with how quickly the petition gained signatures, it was heart-warming to see how many people sign it and it restored my faith in humanity to know that there are so many people who care about trees as much as I do. It should show something to the government that they should be listening more to what people want and their views and taking action on them."