a question on morality

[sean]

Found this in The Town and Country Planning Act

 

Section 375 ©

 

A tree which has a TPO placed upon it or is within a conservation area is exempt from regulations and may be legally felled if

 

a) Touches your pint

 

b) Looks at you funny

 

c) Shows you up in front of your mates

 

d) Makes advances to your lady (or man)

[Dean Lofthouse]

I'd go with that Sean, would make very interesting planning applications

[MasterBlaster]

The poll results are interesting.

[Pro Gard]

No, If I dont someone else will.

[penfold]

this is probably one of the closest polls i've ever seen on here.

[Nick B]

I also do what the customer wants

I will give advice but if they want something doing that is what i will do

 

If I dont, somebody will so the money is better off in my pocket

[Mesterh]

I only do this job to make a living and saying not to felling a tree aint good business sense to me

 

If its a nice specimen and could be retained that I will prob try and talk them into retaining if possible, but if they want it felling I will do it, money is way better in my pocket plus if its decent timber at least I will try and do something useful with it

[Tom D]

In these circumstances I usually start by saying "i'm not going to talk myself out of a job ,but..." And then go on to persuade them to do something else.

Having said that I do think we can get a little precious about our trees sometimes, and if they really want to fell it they will get someone else to do it.

 

Just blindly doing what the customer wants is a mistake IMO, It devalues the service we offer, if you go the doctor / accountant / lawyer you expect them to advise you what to do. I see us as offering a similar service, we advise and they have the option of taking our advice or not; if they choose not I'll still do the job, I'd be daft not to.

[arbogrunt]

A mate of mine was going to fell a lovely old oak a few years ago. Just as he took out a couple of the lower limbs, an elderly couple came over, both in tears. He stopped work and got down to see what the problem was. It turned out, they had both played in the tree when they were children. He packed up his tools, went home and got a TPO put on the tree 'What else could I do mate?' he said. It cost him a days money, but his concience was clear!

[Nimby]

Some interesting attitudes in this thread. I am do not stand by "what the punter wants" as I see it as my job to educate the customer. It's up to me to inform them of ways to get "more light" etc and if needs be I advise that it should be removed and replaced.

 

Also, Iam of the opinion is it is better to work with the TO rather than felling stuff just because there is no TPO or CA.