"kay" wrote


Does anyone have first-hand experience of gardening in a Conservation
Area?

I have been discussing with the Council tree person the impact of their
proposal to extend the Conservation Area to include our house and
garden.

Very briefly:

All trees with a trunk of 3 inches dia or more at about 5ft high are
covered, and for any work on them, I need to give six weeks notice, and
fill in a form with a plan showing the trees' location and full details
of the work I need to do.

This covers all work, including, eg annual pruning of fruit trees. He
has told me that picking of bay leaves for culinary purposes, and
picking holly for christmas decorations should, by law, be applied for
similarly but will be overlooked.

I will have to apply every single year to carry out annual pruning - I
cannot get an approval to annually prune.

There appears to be no way in which to get a particular tree exempted -
eg for them to decide that a leylandii doesn't add to the conservation
character of the area and therefore I may continue to cut it back to
keep it within bounds.

Since I have around 40 trees over the size limit, are close to reaching
it, this is going to cause me a considerable amount of paperwork, and,
more importantly, it will cause them a lot of paperwork (I think he was
very sensible to concede on bay leaves ;-) )

So - is this the attitude tree officers are taking elsewhere, or is my
particular tree officer not quite au fait with the legislation (my
father believes that there is something in the primary legislation
saying that it shouldn't override good husbandry, and so annual pruning
of fruit trees is allowed)?

.................................
National Heritage say...
"Trees: If you are thinking of cutting down a tree or doing any pruning work
you must notify the Council 6 weeks in advance. This is to give the Council
time to assess the contribution the tree makes to the character of the
conservation area and decide whether to make a Tree Preservation Order. "
but on a Council site "If the tree is a fruit tree and you prune it in
accordance with good horticultural practice, or if the tree is a fruit tree
situated in a commercial orchard" you can go ahead without permission.
Personally I would clarify the situation in writing with your Council but
you would need to list the trees and what annual work is needed, a word with
your local Ward Councillor beforehand may help.

Seeing as Council Workers seem to be making a point at the moment,
justifying their jobs by being petty minded, you may well encounter a
problem especially if you don't get things in writing.
If they won't take a sensible view you could/will simply flood them with
paperwork (which they would welcome as justification for their jobs) and
then go ahead after 6 weeks if you haven't heard from them.

Poor you!!

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
W.of London. UK