OTT request from planning dept ?

[JLT]

Hi All,

 

looking for some advice if you don’t mind.  Will try to keep it short :

 

I’ve had approval for a 5x4m extension to the side of my property, which backs onto a farm / green belt land.  Basically the farmer sold part of the land upon which my development was built .

 

My garden is surrounded by livestock fencing, with hedges inside the boundary .  There are also a few trees no more than 5 years old .. none of which have TPO’s .  
 

The extension will finish about 1.4m from the bushes , and quite close to one of the trees (I would like to keep it , but likely it’ll have to be removed).

 

The council have made my approval conditional on the following :

 

Pre-Commencement condition:

 3. Before commencement of any building operations on site (including demolition, enabling, clearing and delivery of associated machinery or materials) details shall be submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority of the trees, planting and hedgerow to be retained along the boundary adjacent to the extension hereby approved. The details shall include measures to protect the trees, planting and hedgerow during building operations and details of a foundation design. The foundations of the proposed development shall be designed to take into account and avoid damage to the retained trees, planting and hedgerow. The development hereby approved shall be built in accordance with the approved details unless prior approval has been obtained in writing from the Local Planning Authority.

The approved protection measures shall be erected around the necessary areas for the duration of the building works. Following the removal of the protection measures the trees, planting and hedgerow shall be maintained for a period of five years. Any trees, shrubs or grassed areas which die, are removed or become seriously damaged or diseased within this period shall be replaced within the next planting season with plants of similar species and size to that approved.

So I’ve submitted pictures , measurements from the proposed extension to the bushes (mostly hawthorns) and confirmed the builders will cover/protect them whilst work is carried out , and also represented that anything that dies will be replaced .  I now understand this is with their resident arboriculturist for comments .   All seems a bit excessive to me especially in terms of potentially having to change the foundations .  My architect is shocked they are making me jump through these hoops, but also said we have to “play the game”.

 

As experts in this field does this seem excessive to you ? Of course I want to preserve the hedges etc where I can for privacy purposes , but they are on my property and it’s likely going to end up

costing me 1000’s extra to protect them / change foundations when I could theoretically have removed them already absent the extension request !
 

Any comments , guidance much appreciated 

 

Thanks In advance 

 

JT

 

[Khriss]

Well you cant just chop hedgerows out anymore, for a start. K

[Paul in the woods]

34 minutes ago, Khriss said:

Well you cant just chop hedgerows out anymore, for a start. K

I thought you can if it's in a garden. "A hedgerow is not protected if it’s in, or marks the boundary of, a private garden." https://www.gov.uk/guidance/countryside-hedgerows-regulation-and-management

 

Having said that, is the house recently built? Just wondering if those conditions come from the original permission?

 

[JLT]

32 minutes ago, Khriss said:

Well you cant just chop hedgerows out anymore, for a start. K

That’s not what I intend to do to be clear … but I was of the understanding that if it’s on my land and not forming a border with anyone else I could.

[JLT]

3 minutes ago, Paul in the woods said:

I thought you can if it's in a garden. "A hedgerow is not protected if it’s in, or marks the boundary of, a private garden." https://www.gov.uk/guidance/countryside-hedgerows-regulation-and-management

 

Having said that, is the house recently built? Just wondering if those conditions come from the original permission?

 

House was built around 6 years ago.  Only permitted development rights removed .  Nothing to do with hedges or planting 
 

the hedges are inside the boundary , so as far as I am aware I could remove them.. NOT that I want to.. just trying to rationalise why I’m being forced to jump through these hoops and whether an arborculturist reviewing my proposal would potentially see issues with my foundations and their proximity to the hedges etc 

[Mark J]

Countryside hedgerows: protection and management - GOV.UK

WWW.GOV.UK

---

Find out if you can remove or work on countryside hedgerows.

Edited July 28, 2021 by Mark J

[JLT]

Thanks for the responses so far.  Livestock fencing borders my property , and the hedges sit inside of that. From my read of Marks post above , they are

not protected .. so that leads me to believe the council are insisting for visual amenity purposes.  Again, I am not against keeping the hedges .. in fact I want to keep them, but am worried that the extensions proximity to them is going to cause (unnecessary) additional costs and headaches.  Therefore I wanted to get a feel from the experts on here as to whether it is likely the arborcultural consultee will flag concerns with my current plans.  
 

Assuming the hedges are covered when work commences , do you think that setting foundations approx 1.5m away is going to disrupt them ? 

 

 

 

[Jake Andrews]

Thanks for the responses so far.  Livestock fencing borders my property , and the hedges sit inside of that. From my read of Marks post above , they are

not protected .. so that leads me to believe the council are insisting for visual amenity purposes.  Again, I am not against keeping the hedges .. in fact I want to keep them, but am worried that the extensions proximity to them is going to cause (unnecessary) additional costs and headaches.  Therefore I wanted to get a feel from the experts on here as to whether it is likely the arborcultural consultee will flag concerns with my current plans.  

 

Assuming the hedges are covered when work commences , do you think that setting foundations approx 1.5m away is going to disrupt them ? 

 

 

 

 

It’s not the physical hedges that they are likely worried about, it’s probably the remaining 1.5m of soil and the hedges rooting environment that they are taking issue with. They will likely want to see the ground/soil is suitably protected against compaction. This can be in the form of mulch layer and boards on top. Compaction of the soil will impact rooting function and growth and they will likely want to see what mitigation measures you will take to protect against that. In terms of the newly planted birch’s, why not transplant them elsewhere? That removes the trees and the roots from the area entirely then. Just a thought.

[JLT]

23 minutes ago, Jake Andrews said:

 

It’s not the physical hedges that they are likely worried about, it’s probably the remaining 1.5m of soil and the hedges rooting environment that they are taking issue with. They will likely want to see the ground/soil is suitably protected against compaction. This can be in the form of mulch layer and boards on top. Compaction of the soil will impact rooting function and growth and they will likely want to see what mitigation measures you will take to protect against that. In terms of the newly planted birch’s, why not transplant them elsewhere? That removes the trees and the roots from the area entirely then. Just a thought.

Thanks, that’s super helpful.  The trees have been there for just over 5 years .. would it be possible to transplant them do you think ? 

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

They’ve not been unreasonable at all - in reality, if you ticked Y Y on the planning app for the question trees on / adjacent to the site, the LA probably ought to have sought an arb impact assessment PRIOR to validation of your app. 
 

What they have actually done is quite reasonable. 
 

Architect surprised by validation list ‘oversight’ shocker. 

[Khriss]

12 hours ago, Mark J said:

Countryside hedgerows: protection and management - GOV.UK

WWW.GOV.UK

---

Find out if you can remove or work on countryside hedgerows.

Cheers Mark, was gonna post just this last night ,  but fell asleep     K