TPO on our Horse Chestnut but still Developers have severed the roots

[biscuit156]

HELP !!!

We have a huge Horse Chestnut (with a TPO) in our garden in Berkshire which has always sat on our border with an adjacent empty field. Developers are now building on this land very close to the border and despite references to the TPO in planning etc, houses have been built very close to it.

 

As part of the work (which is almost complete now) they dug a trench up close to the tree which severed some of the roots. I immediately contacted my Council Tree dept and have today received notification from the Planning and Development - Tree Team.

 

They have noted, the severance to the roots may have damaged the tree and they are investigating further and looking at whether the tree may now need to come down for safety reasons. As you can appreciate, we're furious - the tree is stunning, the environmental impact of cutting such a huge tree down, as well as our loss of privacy (we thought the TPO meant it was safe!).

 

They also mention the fact the on the trunk of the tree there is 'fungal brackets in a tiered formation with cream undersides' which may also have an affect on the stability of the tree and have suggested we employ and arboriculturist to give us a detailed inspection to ensure the 'fracture safety of the tree is not compromised'. and 'at the very least the decay will have reduced the trees safe useful life expectancy' There isn't much fungi (I took a photo which I could post on here) - can anyone offer any advice?? We just don't have the funds to employ anyone to report but feel we need to prove that the fungi isn't affecting the stability of the tree (or is it?) !! We're up against a well know Developer who tends to get what he wants so we need to arm ourselves with as much info as possible !

 

I'm at a loss as to what to do !! Any help/advice much appreciated !!

[Steve Bullman]

A picture of the fungus will be a good start but i'm guessing its this Polyporus squamosus - Dryads saddle - David Humphries’s Fungi Directory - Arbtalk.co.uk | Discussion Forum for Arborists

[detritus21]

Ultimately the developer has caused damage to a TPO tree without permission. They should be liable to a significant fine but as some of us realise councils aren't always the straightest in terms of planning so it may never get persued. If the tree has fungal brackets on it is probably advisable to have the tree inspected so as to gain a truer reflection as to what the problem is.

[Paul Jenks]

In the planning application there should be some reference to whether trees are likely to be affected by the proposed development.

If the development has progressed without taking the tree into account, the planning dept and the forestry dept have failed in their obligations. Especially as the tree is subject to a TPO. It seems a little odd that the TO is not hopping up and down if the developers are working near the tree. They usually do, (hop up and down). Unless they have made some errors and are now trying to avert attention to themselves

[Paul Barton]

First off, it would be good to know if there are planning conditions attached to the planning permission that required a tree survey and protection plan. If there was a half decent tree protection plan then this shouldn't have happened and therefore the developer is in breach of a planning condition.

 

How far from the stem is the trench? Can you get photos of the trench showing the number and size of roots that have been severed?

 

If you really want to arm yourself with facts and a strong standpoint then a professional inspection is the way to go. It would be worth obtaining a valuation of the tree as well as part of that, so that if it dies or severely declines you have some basis for compensation.

 

Can you provide the address of the site, or a planning application reference? I'd be interested to view the planning documents and see what arboricultural input was requested and provided.

[biscuit156]

Thank you for your quick responses - as you can all appreciate we feeling angry about it all (especially as we've had to ensure years of remediation on the site, building work and now this!!) - here's a couple of photo's I took today. You can see how close they've put their fence to our tree.

 

[SteveA]

Shame how houses have been granted planning permission within close vicinity of a "Huge" Horse Chestnut with a preservation order.... I imagine doing groundworks in the same area of the tree was always going to result in serious damage to the root system.

 

Maybe they (developers & planners) expected 'something like this' to happen all along?!

[Tom D]

With the tree so close to the boundary the root protection zone (which would have been part of the planning consent) would have extended well into the development site, at a guess from the pic 10-15m. The developer should have had a tree protection fence along the edge of the zone to prevent any damage to the root system. This would appear not to have happened.

[SteveA]

Do you have a scale plan of the development area near the tree to upload here?

[biscuit156]

Thanks for your reply and interest in this.

Re the trench - Unfortunately I didn't get photos when the trench was dug. When it was dug, I contacted the tree dept to convey my concerns as my neighbour mentioned the roots were all exposed and had been cut (he has been spending a lot of time keeping an eye on the project but as I have two small children I've not been so able to).

 

My neighbour and my husband spoke to the workmen and told them about the TPO and they all said they had not been informed and had simply been asked to dig the trench along a certain line, which they did. Weirdly, the trench was filled in pretty sharply after that (hence no photos) - however, I do have a photo which will show you how close to the tree it was (you can see they tyre marks which indicates where it was) and also a couple of photo's showing some of the root damage.

 

With regards to knowing the site address etc - of course, I'd love you to take a look and see what the deal was - is this something I can post on here? Obviously that'll highlight the Developer etc and I don't want to get into slander etc. Do you have an email address I can send it to?

 

Finally - what would be a rough cost for such a survey and valuation?? Appreciate it differs but I haven't got a clue !!!

 

Many many thanks

 

 

[Paul Barton]

Jeez, that's not looking too clever.

 

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