Chichester District Council
Agenda item

Agenda item

Consultation on Protecting and Enhancing England’s Trees and Woodlands

Planning Committee are asked to note the contents of Defra’s consultation on proposed measures to enhance England’s trees and woodlands, and to endorse the proposed response.

Minutes:

Mrs Stevens introduced this item explaining that this consultation from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) which is seeking to introduce measures to make the felling of trees more transparent.  There are proposals to consult with local communities about the felling of highway trees, of which officers would be supportive, but there is a lack of clarity about what constitutes a highway tree.  There are also concerns that the proposed process for the involvement of residents as consultees needs to be simplified.  In terms of the reporting of all tree-felling, this is considered difficult in terms of resources, and also may have the counter-productive effect of developers clearing sites of trees before the planning application stage is reached.  The Council will respond to the consultation with these comments.  There are further proposals regarding the Forestry Commission enforcement powers for which the Council have no comments.

 

Members asked questions about Ash Dieback Disease, the removal of trees which do not have TPOs, trees which are not in a conservation area, but are still significant within the landscape, and whether the consultation includes hedgerows? In response to members’ questions, Mr Whitty confirmed the consultation does not include hedgerows, and that officers are very attuned to concerns about developers removing trees.  Where necessary the e Council does try to place TPOs on trees when land looks likely to be sold for development, but it is not unusual for developers to clear trees prior to seeking planning permission which may be exacerbated as Mrs Stevens suggested by the proposals and this will be made clear in the response to the consultation.  The onus should be on the landowner, prior to selling the land rather than the local authority, as this would be a duplicate of process, although this would be difficult to introduce.

 

Mr Whitty confirmed officers are very aware of Ash Dieback Disease and requests had been received to fell trees under the remit of ‘dead and dangerous’?  For trees with a TPO this is not permitted by the Council as although they will die, there is no evidence these trees will become dangerous and being ‘dead’ as a justification for felling a tree has been removed, but the Council has no control over trees without a TPO.

 

In response to further questions regarding requesting DEFRA to introduce measures to stop land owners from removing significant trees, Mr Whitty responded that this was a good suggestion and the response to the consultation will be amended to include this.  Mr Whitty further added, although it may be difficult in practice as it would be effectively asking the government to make the whole country a conservation area, it would give the council the benefit of being notified and therefore provide the opportunity to place TPOs on such trees. 

 

In response to member questions about whether the National Park have greater protection, and reference to other authorities having responsibilities for trees, Mr Whitty confirmed that trees in the National Park do not have greater protection, and agreed that the Council’s response will cite that other authorities are also responsible for trees and further commented that this could have a significant impact on the County Council.

 

Mr Whitty confirmed on a point of clarification that currently the proposals have ‘no teeth’, the requirement would be to report the felling and replacement of trees not for aesthetic purposes, but for the environmental argument that they are ‘green lungs’ of the country.

Supporting documents:

 

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