"kay" wrote in message
...

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


We are in a conservation area and at last count had 140 qualifying trees in
the garden :-(
Quite frankly its a PITA, as to do any work on any controlled tree they
expect a plan detailing the species, height, spread and trunk girth of every
tree on the property.

I did have a site visit from two council officials a few years ago and at
that time was told I could do what I like with the fruit trees and anything
else that started life as a shrub or bush. This included the massive
overgrown laurels. Anything with a trunk under 75mm at 1m high is also fair
game. Sadly what was originally a mixed hedge and is now a row of straggly
trees needed their permission.

I have taken out all unwanted trees under the 75mm rule, but am now at the
point where I need to get a plan together to start on the bigger ones. Most
of them are little more than weeds, having grown self seeded and are
desperately in need of thinning out. The one good part is we have not yet
had to buy any firewood and we have burned quite a lot over the past 5
years.

Mike