Issue - items at meetings - FP836 Trees and Woodlands Strategy

Issue - meetings

FP836 Trees and Woodlands Strategy

Meeting: 04/12/2018 - Cabinet (Item 81)

81 Trees and Woodlands Strategy - Policy 2 (Forward Plan Reference FP836) pdf icon PDF 48 KB

Recommendation from the meeting of the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 24 September 2018 on the adoption of the amended Trees and Woodlands Strategy (Minute 25 refers).

Additional documents:

Decision:

The amended Trees and Woodlands Strategy was adopted, as recommended by the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee, subject to a further amendment to Principle 6 of the Policy that the mechanism for appeal against a refusal to prune or remove a tree be limited to those appeals relating to lack of light situations only.

Minutes:

Recommendation from the meeting of the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 24 September 2018 on the adoption of the amended Trees and Woodlands Strategy (Minute 25 refers) following consideration of the six principles that could be incorporated into the Tree and Woodlands Strategy, as Policy 2, to improve the balance between the preservation of trees and residents’ living conditions. The draft Tree and Woodlands Strategy, less Policy 2, was adopted by the Cabinet in April 2018 (Minute 117.3 refers).

 

Having regard to Member involvement in the mechanism for appeal against a refusal to prune or remove a tree, the Executive Member (Environment and Planning) had consulted with Members of the Committee and it was proposed that this should be limited to those appeals relating to lack of light situations only.

 

(1)        The Decision Taken

 

RESOLVED:

 

That the amended Trees and Woodlands Strategy be adopted, as recommended by the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee, subject to a further amendment to Principle 6 of the Policy that the mechanism for appeal against a refusal to prune or remove a tree be limited to those appeals relating to lack of light situations only.

 

(2)        Reasons for the Decision

 

A draft Trees and Woodlands Strategy was considered by the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee and agreed for public consultation. The results were debated and alternative options for Policy 2 (which set out where works would not be carried out to trees) were considered.

 

The Committee proposed six principles that should be considered by Officers to ensure that as much weight was given to the living conditions of residents as to the preservation of trees and following the Officer response to these principles they had been agreed.


Meeting: 03/04/2018 - Cabinet (Item 117)

117 Trees and Woodlands Strategy (Forward Plan Reference FP836) pdf icon PDF 87 KB

Recommendation from the meeting of the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 26 March 2018 on the adoption of the strategy following consultation.

 

(Note:  Committee recommendation to be circulated separately).

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Recommendation from the meeting of the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 26 March 2018 on the adoption of the strategy following consultation (Minute 51 refers).

 

(1)        The Decision Taken

 

RESOLVED:

 

(1)       That Policy 2 (Urban Tree Management) of the Tree and Woodland Strategy be subject to further discussion at the next meeting of the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

 

(2)       That, with the exception of Policy 2, the amendments proposed to the draft Tree and Woodland Strategy as the result of the comments received through the consultation be accepted.

 

(3)       That the amended draft Tree and Woodland Strategy, less Policy 2 be adopted.

 

(2)        Reasons for the Decision

 

It was recognised that the most important addition to the draft strategy was the clarification of the inspection regime for trees which was more clearly stated in Policy 1 (Active Tree Management).

 

Policy 1 indicated the areas where the Council would carry out tree work (such as in instances of pedestrian safety, decay or structural damage to the tree) and in particular the frequency of tree inspections which would be on a three year rolling programme. For the avoidance of doubt an example was given: a tree inspected in the spring in the first year could be inspected again in the autumn in the fourth year.

 

In addition to the frequency of tree inspections it was noted in Policy 3 (The Trees and Woodland in the Borough) that 300 trees would be planted annually and a monthly tree felling list would be produced.

 

Tree planting would be a potential response to mitigating air quality issues in Hatfield Business Park and Comet Way.

 

Members of the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee had felt that some of the comments in the consultation were not fully taken on board and that the recommendations of the tree scrutiny sub-group concerning issues in Policy 2 had not been incorporated into the draft strategy.  

 

Policy 2 (Urban Tree Management) outlined where the Council would not carry out tree work, for example in instances to increase the amount of sunlight reaching a property, to improve mobile phone reception or alleviate problems caused by natural phenomena such as leaves or algae. 

 

Some Members of the Committee had expressed regret at what was in their view the excessive focus on trees at the expense of the Borough’s residents and the failure of the Committee to take on the views of the tree scrutiny sub-group.

 

It was highlighted to the Cabinet that the critical safety regime would not be implemented if the strategy was not adopted and it was agreed that the safety regime needed to be implemented.

 

The draft Tree and Woodland Strategy was adopted by the Cabinet apart from Policy 2 which would be subject to further discussion at the next meeting of the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

 

In the interim the current policy which detailed areas where the Council would not carry out tree work, would be used until the discussion by the Committee on Policy 2  ...  view the full minutes text for item 117