Research Project - TPO Reviews - Where are we at & where are we going?

[jfc]

Gary, all the best with your research. I worked in market research 20 yrs ago and if I remember correctly we expected about a 10% return rate for mail questionnaires. Online may get better returns.

-other advice try to make it as short as you can, if possible one that can be filled in in 5 mins.

-prizes to encourage participation. Maybe one of the retailers might give you a voucher to spend with them or something.

All the best.

[David Humphries]

......... I think the City of London (nudge nudge) may be likely too

 

sorry Gary, up to my eyeballs in OPM currently.

 

 

You've probably found the LTOA borough contact list on the website, yes?

 

rather than e-mail the borough TO's individually, send an e-mail to the Exec Officer who should then be able to send it around all 170 contacts.

 

I'll pm you the exec's e-mail address.

 

 

 

.

[Gary Prentice]

Sorry everyone, I was unprepared for the level of response yesterday, on here, UKTC, PMs and emails to the survey email address. It simply become a run away train with alerts going off seemingly continuously.

 

 

AIE UK Tree Officer Index

 

This list is on the AIE site. Maybe worth a visit to have look around.

 

I contacted over 300 tree officers for my dissertation a while back and got about 60 responses.

 

Good luck

 

I had a quick look at AIE but it seems rather outdated. Your 60 responses see a good rate tbh if it was a cold calling exercise. The TO's that I spoke to yesterday actually said they weren't the best person to deal with it but helped me to get to the right person.

 

Thanks for the reply

 

Happy to help and can also promote through the district group(s) I am involved in will contact via the e-mail address

 

I got your email and will get back to you as soon as I can:thumbup1:

 

Gary, you are a masochist. I have made a few comments about your plan on UKTC. Wish I could help. If you want to extend it to Scotland I might. I think the legislation requiring review of TPOs is almost identical up here, but possibly had effect at a different time from yours.

 

 

Scotland may be a step too far, through another source I've been asked if I intend to extend the survey to Wales. I've got few willing subscribers which may make it do-able, but then that negates a comparison to TiT2 which will complicate the results a little.

 

Currently I don't even know how many authorities are responsible for TPOs in Wales. Everything is just moving to fast. I've gone from testing the water to feeling like drowning in it.

 

Gary, all the best with your research. I worked in market research 20 yrs ago and if I remember correctly we expected about a 10% return rate for mail questionnaires. Online may get better returns.

-other advice try to make it as short as you can, if possible one that can be filled in in 5 mins.

-prizes to encourage participation. Maybe one of the retailers might give you a voucher to spend with them or something.

All the best.

 

Some good ideas.

 

I've been told the response to mailshots are low, which is why I'm trying to effectively target the respondents accurately. If, pre-survey release, I have the contacts of willing participants I should get nearly 100%

 

 

Yesterdays feedback was tremendous. It's been suggested that I write a introductory letter that people can forward, explaining the aims and objectives, the confidentiality statement, etc Once I get this done, I'll send that out to everyone to ask them to network it out. If people then email their willingness to participate, the message will spread.

 

There's a couple of other contacts I've been given, to generally advertise what I'm doing, which I don't want to go into yet, but progress is being made:thumbup:

 

One last comment, for any lurking incognito TOs/POs, I would like to make it very clear that the aim is identify the current situation of TPO reviews. I suspect that the situation is nowhere near where it should be and this is likely to be due to lack of resources to do them.

 

Once the research is complete, anyone who participated can certainly request a copy. Hopefully I may be able to get it published and if people can use it to defend staff cuts, it would make it worthwhile doing. Talking to LA officers from many different regions, I fully understand the position they are in and the restraints that they are under.

 

To everyone who has replied to [email protected], thank you. I'll respond as soon as I physically can:thumbup1:

[Gary Prentice]

I've tried to respond to everyone who messaged or emailed to register interest, so if you haven't received anything yet, sorry I messed up.

 

Thanks to everyone who has replied so far, but I do need more, particularly the North West and Midlands

 

Thank you

[roscoe1982]

you might want to contact Daniel Docker at Tunbridge wells council, he chairs the Kent Tree Officers Group (KTOG), also i will help if needed.

 

Ross

[Prunus]

That only gets you existing information, not opinion. And definitely nothing helpful, as Council's hate them. Even when there's nothing to hide, it is really tiresome responding to them. I used to work for a couple of Councils and used to have to spend 1/2 a day dealing with some nonsense or other from some [forum-rules-forbidden-noun] with nothing better to do than send in smartass requests when a phone call would have got them a more helpful and quicker reply.

 

The reason people do them, however is that councils are often very very uncooperative about information with officers lying and hiding things when they are to blame.

 

To give you an example I know of an example where after the 20 working day statutory period someone discovered that the information was kept on a shelf in the officers office. Or another case where a claimed report, used to fob someone off, actually didn't exist.

It really does depend on the council or the officers, but some people tell lies regularly which forces the public to be formal.

[fagus]

Councils are pretty good at shuffling paper,anything sent to the CEO, Director of Planning for the TO will land on their desk, whether it will be filled in is another matter. There are usually deadlines for the answering of mail, though the answer may say a full reply will take.......

It occurs to me whichever GVt dept is pushing reviews will be monitoring progress therefore your subject may be already being done.

Mostly it will go like this; CEO asks for comment and likely timescale for a review of all TPOs. "Err Some of the woodland orders are 1947 and they are large. However at present there is no spare capacity but our best estimate is about two staff years i.e.2 extra staff and there will be the need for extra equipment." CEO "But there is moratorium on staff recruitment; Okay I will reply it is not possible under the present funding constraints."

I note the UK tree officers list has no officers for Humberside CC not surprising since it was abolished in 1996.

[Gary Prentice]

Councils are pretty good at shuffling paper,anything sent to the CEO, Director of Planning for the TO will land on their desk, whether it will be filled in is another matter. There are usually deadlines for the answering of mail, though the answer may say a full reply will take.......

It occurs to me whichever GVt dept is pushing reviews will be monitoring progress therefore your subject may be already being done.

Mostly it will go like this; CEO asks for comment and likely timescale for a review of all TPOs. "Err Some of the woodland orders are 1947 and they are large. However at present there is no spare capacity but our best estimate is about two staff years i.e.2 extra staff and there will be the need for extra equipment." CEO "But there is moratorium on staff recruitment; Okay I will reply it is not possible under the present funding constraints."

I note the UK tree officers list has no officers for Humberside CC not surprising since it was abolished in 1996.

 

If I can stretch this reply to 6000 words (+/- 10%) it will save me loads of work:thumbup1:

[Gary Prentice]

you might want to contact Daniel Docker at Tunbridge wells council, he chairs the Kent Tree Officers Group (KTOG), also i will help if needed.

 

Ross

 

Would you have a contact email address, and have you emailed me already at [email protected]?

 

I get confused when 'Cantseethewood4thetrees' emails me as john smith from Chipping Sodbury BC:biggrin:

 

All help is gratefully received:thumbup1:

[Amelanchier]

My fall back plan Tony. Another student contacted me this morning who had used the FOI for a similar survey. A local TO said this morning they were a pain.

 

If I can network around the country to reach sympathetic people it may prove more productive - I don't know.

 

If anyone who can help, directly or indirectly, does I may not need to go along the official route. It's early days but the response over the last 18hrs has been surprising, direct offers - "I can do that for you" and indirect " contact this person" or " I'll speak to this person at such and such authority".

 

Tree people are generally good people:thumbup:

 

Ah, I meant that with regard to your initial database of contacts.

 

Be careful not to populate your research with too many opinions of the'good people' - it may not give you a representative sample. Those that are proactive respondents might well be proactive with TPO administration. Or worse, bearing an axe for grinding.

 

As for FOI requests being a pain - well, I don't know what to say. Perhaps we should just get rid of them and go back to the good old days...