Felling two mature oak trees near house

[ashley horner]

Hi everyone,

 

I have two mature oak trees which I am thinking of felling in order to create a driveway for parking a couple of cars.  The photo shows the two tree and their proximity to the house (approx. 7 meters).  The house was built in 1956 and I assume that the trees pre-date the house, neither of the trees have a TPO.

 

I am based in Woking, Surrey and the online Cranfield soil map says that I have "slowly permeable seasonally wet slightly acid but base-rich loamy and clayey soils".

 

The trees are on a raised bank with a road on one side and an area of grass on the other (between the trees and the house).

 

Now, I will say that I really don't want to fell these two trees as they are truly magnificent, however we do need to be able to park our cars and the driveway barely fits one car.  I know that the definitive answer is to have someone investigate this on-site but I would also welcome your expertise, experience and any guidance.

 

So, my questions:

 

1. do I need to take out the trees at all?  The driveway will need to be dug down 200mm, the driveway contractors that I have spoken to are more than happy to cut through the roots but they are not experts.  I have dug at approx. that depth running from the tree to the house and can see a few roots, some approx. 1.5 cm in diameter, others much smaller

 

2. if I did fell the trees, what would you think the likelihood of heave is?

 

3. lastly, what type of person is best to advise on this?  I have searched for soil analysis on google but I just come up with companies that undertake large commercial projects

 

Any thoughts/comments would be really appreciated.

 

Thanks,

 

Ashley

[trigger_andy]

On 10/11/2019 at 19:22, Rough Hewn said:

One way membrane, 150mm celltech stuff,
Fill it with pea shingle.
You can drive 20 ton plant over it.

Hey Rough, what did you google to find that Celltech stuff? Ive tried googling and can find nothing. Could be an option for me building a drive through the back of the property. 

[Rough Hewn]

Hey Rough, what did you google to find that Celltech stuff? Ive tried googling and can find nothing. Could be an option for me building a drive through the back of the property. 

Don't know, I was subbing and it got delivered.
I'm speaking to the contractor later, I'll ask him [emoji106]

[Gary Prentice]

2 hours ago, trigger_andy said:

Celltech stuff?

try Cellweb TRP

 

[Gary Prentice]

On 10/11/2019 at 18:22, Rough Hewn said:

You can drive 20 ton plant over it.

Being a pedant.... 

Only if you use the appropriate depth of cellweb. Different thickness have different ratings, IIRC 100-150 depth is good for cars and light vans, heavier than that you need the deeper thicknesses. 

 

One of their reps did a workshop at my LA a year or two back, worth getting to one if you ever get the chance.

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

A bit of a tangent (and putting to one side for the time being the discussion of mature tree  benefit v the desire of the land owner to make unencumbered decisions of how to use their land...)

 

Be wise to be mindful that the LA or any member of the public could seek to initiate TPO process if they were aware of a potential threat to the trees. Should that be the case, your decision making process would be taken away from you. 
 

Discretion - Worth bearing in mind. 

 

 

[trigger_andy]

36 minutes ago, Gary Prentice said:

try Cellweb TRP

 

Cheers Gary! 

[Gary Prentice]

30 minutes ago, kevinjohnsonmbe said:

Discretion - Worth bearing in mind. 

Bit late now, it's on t web 

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

1 minute ago, Gary Prentice said:

Bit late now, it's on t web 

I know, and a bit bloody rich coming from me ? 

 

I don’t have “discretion” nor “restraint” nor “compromise” as any of my middle names..... ???

[BrendanTreeFeller]

 

[Stubby]

4 hours ago, BrendanTreeFeller said:

 

?