Issue - meetings

The Committee received an application for confirmation of TPO/13/2023 subject to the removal of T2 from the schedule and TPO Plan.

The Committee received a representation in objection to the application from a representative of Hayden’s Arboricultural Consultants:

           i.              TPO legislation removed the right of individuals to manage their own trees without consent of the local planning authority.

          ii.              It was incumbent on local authorities that TPO were administered with great care, detail and responsibility.

        iii.               Considered TPO/13/2023 inappropriate for the following reasons:

·        The order was factually incorrect as T2 had been removed.

·        The TPO had been incorrectly dated. It was served on the 15^th and therefore invalid.

·        The TPO was not signed at the time of serving; so was not a valid legal document.

·        At no point of the process were the trees inspected by the Case Officer.

·        There was no record or detail provided of the Case Officer’s assessment of the visual immunity in line with policy P2 of the Cambridge Tree Strategy to provide justification for serving the order.

·        Had undertaken a Tree Evaluation Method for Preservation Order (TEMPO) assessment which assesses the relevance and suitability of the TPO which resulted in score of eight. TEMPO guidance stated that trees with a score between seven and ten do not merit a TPO.

·        The threat to the wall from the young semi mature trees had been ignored irrespective of the information and photographs submitted.

        iv.              To expect the owner to wait for damage to occur and be financially responsible for the associated costs was unfair and irresponsible.

         v.              The TPO was an inappropriate overreaction to a proposed removal of several relatively small ornamental trees of limited visual immunity behind a small boundary wall in a small rear garden.

                    vi.         The TPO had been served in a response to a planning application which had been withdrawn but was still being processed by the Council.

                   vii.         Given all the above, together with the mismanagement of the process for this and the previous tree protection order, would recommend that the Committee refused to accept the Officer’s recommendation.

The Committee:

Resolved unanimously to accept the officer recommendation and grant permission of TPO/13/2023 subject to the removal of T2 from the schedule and TPO Plan.