Building near protected trees

[indus]

The back of my garden borders an 'estate' that has protected trees. These trees are right up against my rear boundary. If I wanted to make an outbuilding here under my permitted development rights and did so without the need for BR (ie kept under 30m2) is there anything stopping me?

Does the fact that these trees are protected afford them any sort of protection from me constructing within a certain distance of them ie something that over rides my permitted development rights?


Thanks

 

[indus]

Anybody?

 

[indus]

I've spoken to a 'tree protection officer' at the local council and think I have the answer.

 

[joe-90]

What IS it then?

 

[indus]

What IS it then?

Sorry!

Basically since I plan to use pd rights and don't need br there is nothing stopping me building. I do not need permission of any kind with regards to the trees

HOWEVER, should my construction damage the trees then the council will seek to prosecute me if they think they can prove it. It is a criminal offence to damage a tree (even if unintentionally) and so it will be a criminal prosecution.

 

[joe-90]

I guess that would mean root damage too? Those 'padstones' sound like a good idea then.

 

[indus]

I guess that would mean root damage too? Those 'padstones' sound like a good idea then.

Actually I'm going to change my plans altogether. Being 2m from such large trees means there must be a good chance of me damaging the tree roots. The 'padstones' according to my builder were actually going to be 3m deep and 1m square on the top. There were going to be between 6-8 of these, so a fair amount of excavation would take place.

There will almost definitely be roots within 2m of these trees and so root damage will probably take place. If anything happens to these trees after I do my work I'm sure the council will seek to blame me.

So rather than build across the rear boundary I'm going to build along the side and will be at least 6m from these trees. The fact that my build will now be only 1m from the side boundary (rather than >2m from all) means that PD only allows me a height of 2.5m rather than 4m.

So I'll have to accept a reduced height and perhaps an aesthetically less symmetrical positioning of the building but I just can't be bothered to get into all this hassle with protected trees.