- Joined
- 13 Sep 2015
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Hi,
I am not sure if this is just a rant or a request for advice ..!
I have a semi derelict 1920s garage in my garden that I would like to knock down and replace with a garden room and storage area. The details aren't important; it is unambiguously a scheme that needs planning permission.
However, my architect has advised me that there are two trees in my garden that may be impacted by the scheme so I need to submit an arboricultural impact report, at a cost of just shy of £1,000, as part of my application. This may result in steps like specialist foundations being mandated.
The two trees in question are a Norway Spruce that someone put out after they were done with it being a Christmas tree, I'd guess about 20 years ago, and a similarly aged wild sown silver birch. Neither has a TPO and we are not in a conservation area. Birches, at least, are common in the neighbourhood. I can assure you that there is nothing about either tree that makes them of particular merit or amenity.
I absolutely sign up to my authority's scheme to preserve the tree canopy. I am not interested in avoiding the spend or 'getting off the hook'. However, if I am going to have to spend £1,000 on tree related stuff as part of this process then I'd much rather make a commitment in my application to replace the existing trees if they get damaged, with native species to be agreed with the council, AND use the £1,000 saved to buy saplings to support the (local) Forest of Avon. I'll even commit to planting them.
That is, I want to create a better outcome. (Before anyone queries it, though, I genuinely don't have the spare money to do the arboricultural report and commit to the Forest of Avon.)
But, I am told that the only way I can raise this prospect is to submit a pre-planning advice request to the council; the charge for which appears uncapped but around £1,000. And, in any case, the outcome will be they will tell me the policy is the policy.
I guess I can achieve the outcome I want by chopping down the trees before the planning application goes in, but that just seems to be the wrong behaviour.
I appreciate policies are there to generate the best outcome overall, averaged across all applications. But, it does seem a frustrating shame that there appears to be no route to negotiate an outcome that would be an improvement on the 'mandated by policy' position.
I am not sure if this is just a rant or a request for advice ..!
I have a semi derelict 1920s garage in my garden that I would like to knock down and replace with a garden room and storage area. The details aren't important; it is unambiguously a scheme that needs planning permission.
However, my architect has advised me that there are two trees in my garden that may be impacted by the scheme so I need to submit an arboricultural impact report, at a cost of just shy of £1,000, as part of my application. This may result in steps like specialist foundations being mandated.
The two trees in question are a Norway Spruce that someone put out after they were done with it being a Christmas tree, I'd guess about 20 years ago, and a similarly aged wild sown silver birch. Neither has a TPO and we are not in a conservation area. Birches, at least, are common in the neighbourhood. I can assure you that there is nothing about either tree that makes them of particular merit or amenity.
I absolutely sign up to my authority's scheme to preserve the tree canopy. I am not interested in avoiding the spend or 'getting off the hook'. However, if I am going to have to spend £1,000 on tree related stuff as part of this process then I'd much rather make a commitment in my application to replace the existing trees if they get damaged, with native species to be agreed with the council, AND use the £1,000 saved to buy saplings to support the (local) Forest of Avon. I'll even commit to planting them.
That is, I want to create a better outcome. (Before anyone queries it, though, I genuinely don't have the spare money to do the arboricultural report and commit to the Forest of Avon.)
But, I am told that the only way I can raise this prospect is to submit a pre-planning advice request to the council; the charge for which appears uncapped but around £1,000. And, in any case, the outcome will be they will tell me the policy is the policy.
I guess I can achieve the outcome I want by chopping down the trees before the planning application goes in, but that just seems to be the wrong behaviour.
I appreciate policies are there to generate the best outcome overall, averaged across all applications. But, it does seem a frustrating shame that there appears to be no route to negotiate an outcome that would be an improvement on the 'mandated by policy' position.