Chorley council trees

[AA Teccie (Paul)]

The 'blue book' ("TPOs - a guide to the law and good practice) states:

 

Accessibility of TPOs

3.49 A TPO is a charge on the land on which the trees are situated, and as such should be recorded promptly in the local land charges register.41 The LPA are required to make a copy of the TPO available at their offices for public inspection at all reasonable hours, free of charge.42 In the Secretary of State's view, LPAs should also be able to let members of the public know, over the telephone, whether or not particular trees are the subject of a TPO or situated in a conservation area within 48 hours.

 

As you are no doubt aware there is a fundamental review of the TPO legilsation underway at the moment and it is likely(?) that once passed new guidance will be issued but this is still current as far as I'm aware.

 

In practice, increasingly people are emailing / texting to enquire which seems reasonable and means both sides have a record of the enquiry (whihc could work in your favour in certain situations.)

 

Bottom line IF they don't follow recommended good practice and if problems occurs, they could be subjecet to a formal complaint to the Local Governemtn Ombudsman who wouldn't look too favourable on this.

 

Hope this helps..

Paul (former CBC 'Tree Gang'...shhhh!)

[Paul Jenks]

Nice piece of information Paul.

 

We had a tree recently where the householder had checked, solicitor had checked and we checked twice. Started to take it down and a neighbour told us the tree had a TPO. Checked again and told no worries, then 10 minutes later told to stop as the tree did indeed have a TPO.

 

Too late.

 

Took the rest down about 2 weeks later. Replanting next week. No legal problems though just an error on the LA paperwork.

 

My uncle is a chief inspector for the local government ombudsman office. As with all ombudsman offices it's best to get the perceived wrongdoer to sort the issue before resorting to the relevent ombudsman. Keep records of all correspondence. If they don't sort the issue to your satisfaction the ombudsman do a pretty good job. My mum recently got a payout from SWE at the order of OfGen.