That friday feeling

[Bundle 2]

..I give up...

I have just come from the a local hospital in Norwich, on Bowthorpe road. There is some development going on there. Being NHS Trust, I wouldnt like to say what about crown immunity or whu..As a development project however, I would be very surprised if there was any way all proposed works were not subject to appropriate planning prodedures-

Anyhoo.....I cannot get hold of the tree protection officer til monday, ( I have personal reasons to find that a bit of a weird one:sneaky2:)

I have just had to witness some builders/technicians, whatever you wanna call them, compacting the RA of a semi-mature copper beech with a vibe plate........This was surely never signed off?

[ozy vince]

I Think, thats totaly out of order, they should'nt even be putting their tools in the TPA.

 

weather the Tree Protection Officer give's a monkeys is another thing all together.

 

They are nice group of coper beech. I lived just up the road by the chippy. mmm chips... would'nt mind some now???

[Amelanchier]

..I give up...

I have just come from the a local hospital in Norwich, on Bowthorpe road. There is some development going on there. Being NHS Trust, I wouldnt like to say what about crown immunity or whu..As a development project however, I would be very surprised if there was any way all proposed works were not subject to appropriate planning prodedures-

Anyhoo.....I cannot get hold of the tree protection officer til monday, ( I have personal reasons to find that a bit of a weird one:sneaky2:)

I have just had to witness some builders/technicians, whatever you wanna call them, compacting the RA of a semi-mature copper beech with a vibe plate........This was surely never signed off?

 

Neither the NHS nor its contractors have crown immunity that allows them to disregard planning conditions including AIA / AMS / TPP details (which presumably will be availble to view on the NCC website).

 

Welcome to our world - How many development sites with trees are there currently being worked on in the district? How many Tree Officers? I could spend all day driving from site to site, stopping works and educating laborers and I still wouldn't get them all. Believe me - we try.

 

And why are you surprised that you can't get hold of the Officer? Is he/she not allowed time off?

[Dean Lofthouse]

And why are you surprised that you can't get hold of the Officer? Is he/she not allowed time off?

 

Not between 9am - 5pm mon -frid No! Unless of course there is only one Tree Officer..

[Bundle 2]

- How many development sites with trees are there currently being worked on in the district?

Dont know...but can see this copper beech going the same way as the three I watched struggling outside the hospital north of the city for want of RPA's....

 

How many Tree Officers?

Dont know-but just applied for a job as one....!

 

"And why are you surprised that you can't get hold of the Officer?"

Dont know but as interviews are monday and I dont get no reply- welcome to my world!

 

"Is he/she not allowed time off?"-Of course they are-touchy mate-I wasnt having a go!

 

"Welcome to our world"

Apparently not despite the fact that I think I could do a decent job of it!!

[Amelanchier]

Not between 9am - 5pm mon -frid No! Unless of course there is only one Tree Officer..

 

Maybe they're on a development site somewhere harassing JCB drivers...

Edited June 19, 2009 by Amelanchier
:D

[Amelanchier]

- How many development sites with trees are there currently being worked on in the district?

Dont know...but can see this copper beech going the same way as the three I watched struggling outside the hospital north of the city for want of RPA's....

 

How many Tree Officers?

Dont know-but just applied for a job as one....!

 

"And why are you surprised that you can't get hold of the Officer?"

Dont know but as interviews are monday and I dont get no reply- welcome to my world!

 

"Is he/she not allowed time off?"-Of course they are-touchy mate-I wasnt having a go!

 

"Welcome to our world"

Apparently not despite the fact that I think I could do a decent job of it!!

 

Sorry to hear that Tim - wasn't that Norfolk County Council though? I suspect that the Hospital is within the Norwich City Council jurisdiction.

 

I was just being stroppy - its in the Job description!

[Bundle 2]

"I was just being stroppy - its in the Job description! "

Yeah well. why chase after them wasting time and money by dribs and drabs...Instead, hit them where it hurts when they cut corners. I know it not as easy as that but big money spent "smacking" lazy contractors once may be a reasonable trade off if it deters sloppy practice. It is the developers responsibility. If policy dictates we relinquish land for development it also says market forces are key in the value the taxpayer gets for their money(Barker 2004) Its surely not difficult to show on paper that all the "method statements" and "AIA's" you can shake a stick at counts for nothing when the taxpayer gets ripped off.

I think maybe Im glad I dont work for an LPA.....!

[Mark Bolam]

Damn.

 

Here's me thinking this thread was going to be about drinking cold cider whilst wearing shades eyeing up lasses (or fellas if you're a lass) after an early finish after a good week!

[Amelanchier]

Tim, there's just no current mechanism for that to happen. We have to work with what we've got - which is cumbersome, slow, inefficient and mostly ineffective when it comes to trees.

 

The enforcement system works on the basis of making people put things back how they were. Just doesn't work with roots / habitat / ecosystems / landscapes.

 

Prevention is better than cure and although deterrents are a big part of that, education is more important. When I say that, I mean not just explaining about compaction th the bloke on the ground, but being involved from the outset at the design stages before anyone has even been on site.

 

Its about getting people to see that trees are an asset, worth retaining and not a liability that gets in the way.

 

Working as a contractor, I was never involved in that. As you say, you drive by and see bad practice but can't influence the process. Even when consulting, there is a limit to influence - I'll spend hours working out ways something can be done but have little input on whether it should be done at all! At my level in the Planning process, there's more "control" but its still a drop in the ocean.

 

Don't get me wrong - I'm not defending poor practice or the inadequacies of the system. It winds me up just as much as anyone else. I'm just explaining the situation from this side of the fence.

 

 

That'll be the continous fixed Heras panel fence secured by a scaffold frame as shown in Fig 2 of BS 5837:2005 at the outer extent of the RPA of this discussion.