Raine Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 Hi folks, My first time here after being a veteran of the old ebuild forum back in the day. ? Scenario: You are planning to build within the RPA of tree(s) protected by a TPO, and you supply the council with a method statement signed-off by the required experts (arboriculturalist or whoever else may be required) as providing adequate protection for the tree (e.g. piling etc.). Assuming the council doesn't dispute the expert's statement, can the council still refuse to grant planning on the basis of the construction being within the RPA of the TPO? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russell griffiths Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 @Dreadnaught one for you I think. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevilDamo Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 They can but is highly unlikely. The suitably qualified arboriculturalist would have advised and designed the excavations in accordance with the British Standards along with relevant rules and policies. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dreadnaught Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 Thanks @Russell griffiths. 2 hours ago, Raine said: Assuming the council doesn't dispute the expert's statement, can the council still refuse to grant planning on the basis of the construction being within the RPA of the TPO? As @DevilDamo says, in my experience the arboriculturalists have a way around every objection that a council tree-officer can raise. Ingenious fellows! But you are likely to get a long list of planning conditions related to trees to sign-off as you build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterW Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 If you’re lucky that your council has tree officer then you may get through ok. If like around me, they have been replaced with “Environmental Support Officers” then please be ready for a long and drawn out argument and battle of the qualifications .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raine Posted January 31, 2021 Author Share Posted January 31, 2021 (edited) Ace, thanks for the replies guys. I've not bought the site yet (with solicitors) but I thought it would be good to have a view on that before I'm 100% committed. Glad to see there is still a thriving self-build community and it's not been crushed by the credit crunch and covid! Been a few years since I was last on the scene. ? Edited January 31, 2021 by Raine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gus Potter Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 4 minutes ago, PeterW said: If you’re lucky that your council has tree officer then you may get through ok. If like around me, they have been replaced with “Environmental Support Officers” then please be ready for a long and drawn out argument and battle of the qualifications .... 5 hours ago, Raine said: Hi folks, My first time here after being a veteran of the old ebuild forum back in the day. ? Scenario: You are planning to build within the RPA of tree(s) protected by a TPO, and you supply the council with a method statement signed-off by the required experts (arboriculturalist or whoever else may be required) as providing adequate protection for the tree (e.g. piling etc.). Assuming the council doesn't dispute the expert's statement, can the council still refuse to grant planning on the basis of the construction being within the RPA of the TPO? Hello Raine. I'm new to forums such as this. Have read around ebuild but was their demise due to the fact that they went commercial? You can sometimes make life easy here. Get your SE in early..if your serious then at some point you'll need the SE to design founds etc anyway. Get them working with Arboriculturalists. You'll probably find that with the right choice of folk they get on well. When you couple up the two you can end up with a pretty evidence based argument. In this case the " qualifications" are backed up with calculations and double PI cover? I worked on the SE design for the Tottenham Hotspur ground training ground gym a while back. Lots of TPO's .. RPA's (for all... to save you looking it up.. tree protection order, root protection area.. so you don't compact the soil round the roots and thus kill the tree anyway) the job was a joy as during the works we found the long jump pit that was used in the filming of Chariots of Fire. I spent a good while on gathering info for the desk top study, new about the film and so on (you get to spend time as an SE studying history and old interesting photos) , SI info etc. The planners / council were helpful to say the least.. good for the CPD and CV all round. Interestingly there were objections.. as not everyone supported spurs, and some folk just were just not that keen on footballers..and the "type they attacted" I can tell you that the deflection limits were reduced to accomodate the large mirrors on the walls. Part of the brief was that in order to train effectively you need to be able to see all of your body? In summary sometimes what initially seems to be a problem can be sorted with a different (people) approach.. don't always assume that the council / planners etc are going to be hostile from the outset. Often you get a communication that appears to be "official" ,and "hostile".. some folk are not that good at communicating and don't really mean to rub you up... after all you could be their Mum and Dad! Start off with the light touch, keep the big stick out of sight, hopefully you don't need to use it.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevilDamo Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 @Gus Potter So what’s your answer to the OP’s question!?! ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gus Potter Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 @DevilDamo Give me ten min while I figure out what an OP is, or can you or anyone help? Is an OP the same as on topic.. OT? Devil.. Do the planners fancy their chances faced with an evidenced based Arboriculturalists report covering say the health of the fauna backed up with an evidenced based foundation proposal from an SE in support. It's a bit like contractors getting into a spat when they don't actually have a leg to stand on. As a past contractor myself I have heard that this goes on (caveated etc for the faint of heart) So to answer the question... you have got to be a brave Planning Officer to refuse.. as if they do they could get full pelters while also being asked what the technical grounds for refusal are ..and the clock for them is ticking. For all BH members.. if you are willing to spend the time understanding the technical stuff and can present a recognised technical / evidenced based argument then the council have to consider this. "can the council still refuse to grant planning on the basis of the construction being within the RPA of the TPO?" @DevilDamoMy view is no, but the conditions attached may be so onerous that it is not practical to construct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raine Posted January 31, 2021 Author Share Posted January 31, 2021 Thanks @Gus Potter. This is the approach I'm planning anyway, but that'll be a few months down the line. Lots of work for me to do alone before bringing others in. You guys have bolstered my confidence that it's a good site. The TPOs are inconvenient but not insurmountable in this instance. Oh, and OP = Original Poster (me!). ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gus Potter Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 Ta Raine for the heads up on what an Op is. Raine.. if you put in a bit of work here as it seems you are doing and start to make some contacts you could easily find yourself in a good spot, have money left over.. which will get spent on tv's, a nice hob, crapets, blinds, maybe some new pans if induction hob..etc. All the best with the project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferdinand Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 20 hours ago, Gus Potter said: Ta Raine for the heads up on what an Op is. It wasn't because Ebuild went commercial. It was a legal threat, combined (I surmise) burnout through too much success, and a general "sod this for a game of soldiers; I'm offski". F Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe90 Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 I would not put anything past a planner, we had a RPA area and I simply stated “erect 1m high sheep fencing on 100mm round poles to the particular area”, their reply was this statement must be done by a professional body. I found who within the council was their tree protection officer and sent him an Email stating the as above and could he give advise, he said the above was perfectly acceptable, so I forwarded his Email to the planners ?. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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