Hi
This appeal decision is interesting as an arboricultural report from a good arb consultant was submited with the application. The appeal inspector agreed that there was insufficient evidence to prove that the tree was at risk of failure, thus dismissed the appeal.
515965 P_2014_0003 Appeal Decision
Regards
Moray
Diary Date; The MTOA Annual General Meeting wil be held on the 10th December 2014 in Dudley.
As part of the meeting we will be looking at Flexi-pave installations around trees and hearing about the “green contract” available to allow your authority to be trained in the installation of this very effective product.
The rest of the programme is still to be finalised, so watch this space and your inbox for further details.
See attached appeal decision regarding the percentage crown reduction appeal decision mentioned in previous emails. Sorry for delay. The relevant paragraph is 16.
Has anyone else come across this yet? The Openness of Local Government Bodies Regulations 2014 comes into force on 31st July 2014. They were only laid in Parliament on July 3rd, so no time at all before they come into force. I only found out about them yesterday.
The Regulations deal with the filming and recording of meetings and publication requirements for decisions made by officers. It would appear that any decisions delegated to officers that:
will need to be recorded.
The officer making the decision will need to produce a written record as soon as practical after taking the decision which must cover:
The decision must be made available for inspection by public:
I’m not concerned about TPO applications for consent, Section 211 Notices and Hedgerow Removal Notices as these would all be web-enabled and available to the public. However, there are other areas of work which require decisions and are not currently publicised:
The list could go on. Anyway, I thought I would highlight this to you as the deadline is imminent. I’ve not thought how I’m going to record this information yet. Meetings next week to see how to progress this. If any of you are aware of these Regs. and have already something in place then I’m sure we all would appreciate some help on this. If you are not aware of them, then you are now!
R Rose
RE: The debate started recently on crown reduction specs, see the attached appeal decision which some have asked for. Relevant paragraph is 16. 3958615 58 Old Main Street
Thanks to Moray and the MTOA ‘team’ for another great day at Cannock Chase today. Very informative day with interesting topics and speakers, particularly the pest management issues. Cheers again!
Let me say first of all, I loved the first conference. I loved the fact that, finally, arboriculture was getting together with urban design and landscape architecture. I enjoyed the buzz from the earlier TEP training days on the subject. I even managed to get our urban designer to come to a full day on trees!
The first conference came at a good time; with the emerging, british-focussed work on trees and climate change. Evidence. Just what our planning policy team needed in order for them to sit up and take notice as it finalised our Local Plan.
Knowing the next conference was on its way I was really excited. But, as time has gone on and the speakers list has firmed up, I have to come clean and say my overwhelming response is *shrug*.
Its certainly about trees. But, for me, how has it suddenly become a mixture of the same old faces and, I suspect, several people who will be able to add ‘delivered a paper to conference X’ as part of their CV or bid for their next research funding round ? To be honest, I’m not that interested in what is happening overseas. Yes, we can learn from it, and yes, there’s no reason why some should not be included. But I feel that the proportion this year is far too high.
I’ve managed to put together just one afternoon’s worth of speakers (day 1) that I’d like to hear. I’d like to hear the presentation on retail sites too, but I’m not sure I want to sit through a morning of what looks like it will be a lot of congratulatory, let’s come together, fluff. Can I justify the council’s (or my own) cash for that ? Don’t know – I’ll see closer to the time. It will be interesting to see how many Local Authority employees are able to attend.
Hurrah for the MTOA cheap as chips training days !
This gallery contains 2 photos.
Like many Local Authorities we’re being asked to justify having a budget to manage trees. So with Highway trees owned by the LA, the question is where the responibilities lies in terms of statutory and discretionary powers. From reading the examples in Mynors it’s doesn’t appear quite as simple as i hoped. There clearly is a duty to clear the Highway once there is an obstruction, however, how far does the duty extend to maintain and manage the tree stock? Obviously we know the potential consequences once management stops, but i just need to put this across to the budget holders in a transparent way – any comments appreciated.
If your not an ICF member, you may not have seen this article on the spread of Emerald Ash Borer in Russia. The paper is available for free at:
http://forestry.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/09/24/forestry.cpt031.short