urgent help with hedges in a conservation area

[samthescam]

Guys... come on.

 

Do you give 6 weeks notice to trim hedges in conservation areas?

 

A laurel hedge is definitely not a tree!

[samthescam]

I asked my TO this question last year, they said anything with a stem big enough to qualify needs a notification, regardless of whether you want to call it tree shrub or hedge.

 

Different TOs may interpret the rules in different ways, but I believe that is the letter of the law.

 

It's not.

 

Hedging tree's can be covered, shrubs can't. Next time you speak to him, ask him how many prosecutions he's done.

 

Do you give notice to trim hedges in your conservation areas?

[skyhuck]

It's not.

 

Hedging tree's can be covered, shrubs can't. Next time you speak to him, ask him how many prosecutions he's done.

 

Do you give notice to trim hedges in your conservation areas?

 

Maintaining, is very different to removal.

[yourm9]

it's about 6 meters from the building and yes the soil is quite clay like

[Pedroski]

Quick copy and paste from the Stratford local authority web site.....

 

"What about trees and hedges: Do special controls apply?

 

Trees in Conservation Areas have special protection because of the contribution they make to the character and setting of the area. Tree surgery work on any species of tree, including fruit trees, from simple pruning to crown reduction, thinning or felling, should not proceed unless you have given six weeks' prior notice using the notification form Trees in a Conservation Area.

 

Permission may also be required to remove a hedge or significantly reduce its height, if it has not been regularly maintained. You should Contact Forestry & Landscape on 01789 260307 to discuss the hedge in question.

 

Trees in conservation areas already protected by a Tree Preservation Order (TPO) are, of course, subject to the normal TPO controls.

 

Please note that you do not normally need permission to cut down or do work to trees that are less than 75mm in diameter (measured 1.5m above ground). Shrub species are also exempt.

 

Further advice is available in the Trees section of the website as well as the relevant application forms."

 

 

Seems quite self-explanatory to me. If in a conservation area then you should check before ripping out a hedge. And there are obvious reasons for it - in a conservation where I work, the area is largely characterised by some lovely old hedges. Ripping the hedges out can have a big impact on the character or these areas, in the same way as knocking down an old flint wall.

Edited January 24, 2012 by Pedroski

[Amelanchier]

Except that the only option for the LPA should they wish to prevent its removal would have been to serve a TPO - not really an option on a laurel hedge even for the most liberal TO (and I say that as someone who has gleefully TPO'd Leylandii and Elder).

 

A good starting point would be to ask the LPA if their legal team would like to chance their definition of a tree in the courts. They won't.

[samthescam]

Maintaining, is very different to removal.

 

If you were "maintaining" a tree by removing parts of it, in a conservation area would you notify?

 

If it's a tree its a tree. You cant decide what you notify depending how you feel about the works.

[Pedroski]

Guys... come on.

 

Do you give 6 weeks notice to trim hedges in conservation areas?

 

A laurel hedge is definitely not a tree!

 

Massive difference between trimming and significantly reducing or removing.

[Peter]

A hedge is only a hedge if it isn't a row of trees.

[Rich2484]

Wow learn something new every day, looks like you should look for the grey area, the other thing is that if they have been removed and chipped how are they going to know they are 75mm at 1.5m height, can't glue the chipping back together to find out. Lol