Trees and planning

[Hass]

Good Afternoon all,

is it true, i have heard it is best to remove / cut down trees before submitting planning permission?

 

trees are not TPO

 

Also besides the local council tpo website check, is there anywhere else I need to look to confirm the trees are not TPO?

 

many thanks 

[RichardL]

Don't get it - if you're going planning i.e. abiding by the rules why would you then play a fast one by doing it anyway?

 

My planners you can ask for advice for a lesser fee - basically they read & interpret the permitted development rules,

or even a cert of permitted development again for a fee - the latter though if turned down and you do it anyway I would have thought you're asking for trouble.

[Gone West]

24 minutes ago, Hass said:

is it true, i have heard it is best to remove / cut down trees before submitting planning permission?

If the trees would be in the way of your build and are not covered by a TPO then I would remove them before applying for planning permission.

 

26 minutes ago, Hass said:

Also besides the local council tpo website check, is there anywhere else I need to look to confirm the trees are not TPO?

I don't know of anywhere other than on the LA list.

[Rob99]

1 hour ago, Hass said:

remove / cut down trees before submitting planning permission

Yes, go with this.

This avoids any possibility of the trees becoming a consideration in your planning application. If you leave them in place you will need to mention their removal in your application.

Don't take the risk that some neighbour complaint results in the council tree officer wacking a TPO on it and killing your application.

[Temp]

Not in a conservation area are you? If you live in a Conservation area you have to act as if all trees (with a trunk over 6"? ) have a TPO on them. TPO can also be applied to all trees in an area rather than individually. 

 

Some councils appear to have an online database..

https://www.medway.gov.uk/info/200147/applying_for_planning_permission/128/applications_for_works_to_trees/2

[Temp]

If you enter a post code here it takes you to your councils Web page if they have one. I suggest entering a nearby post code not your actual postcode then navigating if they give you a map..

 

https://www.gov.uk/apply-work-on-protected-tree

[ToughButterCup]

I've told this story before on BH, can't find it so here's a shortened version ....

 

A neighbour of mine is sometimes employed to do what he calls The Sunday Morning Chop. Arrives on site at or just after dawn, cuts down the trees concerned. It's 10:30 before anyone 'twigs' (no, I'm not sorry at all), and Monday morning before anyone can get a TPO. Mostly he's off site by 11.  If he gets fined (rarely) , the customer pays it. The deal is that he gets paid in the weight of wood felled. Which is promptly sold (and hauled off by) the local log merchant.

 

Couple of grand for a Sunday morning's work. "Worth gettin' out-o-bed fer lad......"

[Kelvin]

12 hours ago, Temp said:

Not in a conservation area are you? If you live in a Conservation area you have to act as if all trees (with a trunk over 6"? ) have a TPO on them. TPO can also be applied to all trees in an area rather than individually. 

 

Some councils appear to have an online database..

https://www.medway.gov.uk/info/200147/applying_for_planning_permission/128/applications_for_works_to_trees/2

 

Yes we had this at our previous house. Some trees had TPOs on them others didn’t. When I contacted the council about it they said exactly that. We had a load of trees up the drive that were near the end of their life due to poor care from years before. However, they were becoming dangerous and a few had been blown down. I had to get permission to take the worst of them down and none had TPOs. 

[LSB]

What is your soil type, don't forget roots are generally as big as the trees and if you have clay then you will have problems with roots.

We had some trees on our boundary, these were killed by the power company by over enthusiastic pruning to get them away from the power lines.

About 4 years later we cut them down as they looked awful.

A few years later we submitted planning, they used Google Earth (not just the most recent) and asked where the trees were as they affect the soil, even long after the trees were gone.

There were probably about 8" in diameter.

 

 

 

[saveasteading]

If the tree and soil combinatiin present a grpund heave issue, then the ground will need at least a year to recover, or you could design deeper foundations as if he trees were there.

 

How naughty is it? 

I haven't hesitated to remove poor quality trees, having taken pictures first. Once even got an arboriculturalist (phew) to condemn them.

 

If they are large attractive trees then i would think twice, or more.

Not just naughty but might sway opinion against the application.

 

 

[Dave Jones]

yes clear the site of everything you legally can.

[DevilDamo]

On 24/04/2023 at 16:55, RichardL said:

Don't get it - if you're going planning i.e. abiding by the rules why would you then play a fast one by doing it anyway?

 

My planners you can ask for advice for a lesser fee - basically they read & interpret the permitted development rules,

or even a cert of permitted development again for a fee - the latter though if turned down and you do it anyway I would have thought you're asking for trouble.

What does any of that have to do with felling trees prior to the submission of an application?

[Drellingore]

Our site has no tree protection orders, and is not in a conservation area. It's in an AONB, and current designated usage is agricultural. Planning permission had been given for the previous owner to convert some barns; we re-applied and put a building nearer some low-value blackthorn trees. LPA asked their tree officer to visit the site and give comment (something that the previous applicant didn't have to do, because they weren't proposing anything near the trees). We've since had to have a tree survey done for about a grand. The survey results include all sorts of obligations and restrictions that we previously didn't have, and the previous applicant didn't have. I should note that we get on very well with the environmental/arborial company we used, so it's not like they've stitched us up or anything.

 

So, we proposed putting a garage near some blackthorns. The survey however showed that an ash tree near the main barn has a root protection area that will get in the way of development, and now needs to be fenced off, and special matting putting down if anything drives over parts of it. This is something that never showed up on the previous application, and the previous applicants wouldn't have been obliged to do.

 

I'm all for increasing biodiversity (and it's a key part of our plans) but I have to say that leaving trees standing that might be near your development makes it possible for the LPA to enforce further restrictions. If those trees aren't there, they are less likely to be able to do that.