I am very annoyed......

[Suzanne]

our neighbours have just cut down a mature rowan tree which they know is under a general conservation order in accordance with the borough plan. I know when they applied for planning permission for an extension to their house a few years ago this was one of the reasons for refusal.

Am I just being cynical in that I think they now will be reapplying?

Also now the tree has gone what can I and other more environmentally sensitive members of the village do.

Complete vandalism. I could shout at someone.  >:(

[Suzanne]

[Hyacinth]

Suzanne.....shout at the council! ;D

I live in a Conservation(buildings)/Preservation(trees) zone and frankly, it's a pain in the a**e. This severely affects life for so many of the peeps I work for, but......

Your Council will certainly want to know what yr neighbours have done and this may, just MAY, influence any planning decisions when they reapply...for us here, for anyone to fell a tree, permission has to be sought and an inspection of the tree has to be made - permission to grant removal of the tree will only be granted if the root growth is affecting the structure of the building, for instance - otherwise limited permission is granted for removal of dangerous branches of the lower canopy or crowning it.

Whatever, your Council will certainly want to know what's happened - you obviously feel very strongly about this so fingers crossed you meet a few Jobsworths when you tell 'em ;D

[Suzanne]

Thanks - I'll ring them on Monday when they are open again.

[Hyacinth]

Good! I think you'll find that they'll be v. interested.

A site, tho, that you might want to look at and ask questions on if you don't feel you've got satisfaction from your Council's conservation/preservation office, is Garden Law...http://www.gardenlaw.co.uk/phpBB2/index.php

Hope this all helps - obviously you and friends feel very strongly about this.

Lishka

[twinkletoes]

Any news from Council on this Suzanne?  Hope they don't give building permission if it is sought. Good luck.
Twinkletoes

[Old bird]

I had a beautiful old gnarled walnut tree on a bit of open space beside my house.  This had a Tree Preservation Order on it and I was told so by my solicitor when I bought the place four years ago!

I kept kids off climing this lovely old tree and even named my house Walnut Tree House as it was a real feature.

Mid summer last year there was a terrific crack and said tree had literally fallen down!  Council came and cleared all the wood and stuff away.

I rang the Council to check what should be done as it was protected by the TPO they immediately said you have to replace it I said that that was fine as it was their tree on their land!

Immediately I said that they backed away and said no more.  I followed it up and they said that a tree would be planted somewhere but not by my house as the ground was infected with spores that would kill another tree.  I said well tell me where it is and I will visit it.  Not a chance - Anyway I persisted.  The end result was that they said that that wasn't the tree with a preservation order they sent me a completely unclear map that didn't even show my road on it and that was that.  I never got my replacement tree.

Old Bird
;)

[Suzanne]

Apparently the cutting down of a tree from a 50 ft specimen to a 15 ft pole is pollarding and as no specific tree preservation order little the council can do. This is on the assumption that there is sufficient "tree" left to ensure that it survives and resprouts. As it has been cut down below the start of where the main branches for the canopy were - I doubt this.

On the brighter side they will follow up my enquiry to double check there is nothing else to be done. I will wait and see. I still find it amazing that someone thinks that it is ecologically okay to cut down a native tree which support a large amount of wildlife, but can leave a 30 ft leylandii hedge which is a bit of a green desert in terms of biodiversity.

[manicscousers]

when the 'club' took the land from our allotments to build on, the plans said 2 mature trees to be cut down, there have been 4 to date, a mature hawthorn hedge, at least 40 years old, full of life and there's a solitary, beautiful tree left, just found out they've asked one of the lads to chop it down with his chainsaw  :o

[Suzanne]

It makes you weep doesn't it. I don't think there is anything more beautiful than a mature healthy tree. Even in winter the silhouette is lovely, or when they are covered in frost. And in the summer I think it was Christine on her programme who summed it up for me when she said "when the wind blows through the leaves on a summers day its like horses racing through the sky!" or words to that effect.

Sorry to get all poetic and tree hugging but I do have trouble understanding why people can be so short sighted and destructive to something that's taken decades to grow.