Paul Barton

The appeal hasn't been upheld yet!

Enough of the playground taunts please.

Theme From MASH (Suicide Is Painless)!

Nice one Island.

My wife's got a bad cough. Must be something nasty doing the rounds.

Acer palmatum - Japanese Maple.

If the hotel want to fell it, why was the application only for a crown lift and thin? Perhaps make an application to fell the tree and re-plant a number of trees in appropriate locations in the grounds? If it's refused, appeal the decision and see if a planning inspector views the situation differently.

This has been interesting! I wonder if the disparity between opinions of how to categorise trees according to their quality (that one is easy) and value (ooh, that's more tricky!) has something to do with section 4.4.2.2. 4.4.2.2 Individual trees, groups of trees and woodlands should be assessed for their quality and benefits within the context of proposed development, in a transparent, understandable and systematic way. The quality of each tree or group of trees should be recorded by allocating it to one of four categories (see 4.5). The categories should be differentiated on the tree survey plan by colours (see 4.5 and Tables 1 and 2), and/or by suffixing the category adjacent to the tree identification number on the tree survey plan (e.g. 217-A, 218-C etc; see 4.4.2.1). (my underlining) Could it be that Benedmonds is thinking ahead to the desirability of the trees within a proposed development, whereas Jules is more focussing more on appraising the trees in their existing context? I have always found this part of the BS puzzling to be honest. And does the sentence about having a 'transparent, understandable and systematic way' leave the door open for arbs to use their interpretation of the guidance, so long as they explain their approach in the report?

You're going to need alot of cellweb to fill a 1m deep hole! How about a fake grass - some of them are pretty convincing now and you'd get round needing much soil as I think you lay it on sand.

Great little piece on the tellybox last night - including arboriculturist Sharon Hosegood and her tree radar investigating the root morphology of a large old Oak. Well worth a watch BBC iPlayer - Britain Beneath Your Feet - 1. Building Britain The tree bit starts at 39 mins.

I don't know if you can fill structural cells with stone instead of soil. Silva Cell Tree and Stormwater Management System From Deeproot

What do they want the top surface to be? If it could be a gravel surface, could you fill the hole with large stones, cover with a membrane and then dress with gravel? That would still allow water to percolate down to the existing soil, and gaseous exchange. If they want to turf the top it could be more tricky trying to create a sub-base that allows the above but is stable enough. Perhaps large stone base, some Silva cell crates, membrane then turf? Let us know how you get on.

Some places still available on the 3 day course at Barcham next week. Consulting Arborist Society ? Achieving Longevity in the Landscape

I've done the Arboriculture MSc and still don't know anything - does that help?! I would tend to agree with most of Chris's comments above - they are totally different courses. One is academic so will require lots of reading and writing essays, and the other is professional so will reflect typical work scenarios more closely. I'd also give serious thought to your learning style. Are you motivated enough to do distance learning on your own, or would meeting up with your fellow students and tutor regularly help alot?

Click on your username, then view public profile. Infractions are under a tab there.

If it's 12 metres tall and in a healthy state, the chances are it may be a 'moderate' value tree (i.e. B category) rather than 'poor' ©. Either way, the developer needs to ensure that they don't damage your tree during construction. If I were you I would take regular photos of the tree now, during construction and for a few seasons afterwards. If the tree dies because of root damage over the boundary then you'll want to be able to provide some evidence of its demise.

I saw one of those last week in Cornwall. What's the idea of them?

Great discussion! By the way - did you know you can create a poll within this forum instead of linking to a separate website? My twopenneth - some form of legal protection is essential to safeguard trees that are under some kind of threat. TPOs generally seem to do a pretty good job of that but often the way they are handled could be improved (in my opinion). Overall, I would like to see less TPOs served in a reactive manner as this takes up alot of tree officer time which could perhaps be better spent investing in enhancing the existing urban forest. I also think that the cat and mouse dynamic between developers and tree officers is unfortunate and leads to ill-feeling on both sides instead of promoting a collaborative approach to development. It would be good if tree/landscape officers were able to appraise trees proactively and serve TPOs to protect important* trees without their needing to be a perceived threat. Just look at listed buildings - they are not listed because they are in danger, they are listed for their heritage and conservation value. If a more strategic approach could be taken to tree protection, there would be less time and money wasted on reactionary TPOs and the ensuing appeals. *important needs definition of course - perhaps amenity value is too narrow and importance needs to assessed by environmental, ecological and heritage value. My hope is that studies of tree benefits (such as iTree Eco) will provide LAs with better evidence of the importance of trees and therefore lead to more targeted tree protection as well as planting.

Calm down, grab a cuppa and have a read of the forum rules as I have already recommended this morning. Arbtalk.co.uk - Forum Rules

Not acceptable on this forum Clean it up please.

Professional indemnity.

I've cleaned up the childish tit for tat comments from this thread. Please stay on topic and quit with the agro posts.

I think I remember it. If it's the same article, it was Devon Tree services and a guy called Simon Putt doing the climbing. He was in my tech cert class at the time.

Why the thumbs up about a dog that bites? Are you training it for something in particular?

There were about 30 I think. Yes, met your fella Dave! Good egg!