daltontrees

Keep me right here, please. I try to keep up with 4 separate sets of TPO law in the UK, and I sometimes get confused. On what basis does a notified dead tree removal trigger either the obligation to replant or the right of the Council to impose a condition de novo.

But you haven't answered my question about conditions of consent last year. So I will have to answer this the hard way [sigh]. If you got consent last year to cut the tree down to 1m, and there were no conditions attached to it and the tree then died, you did not need to ask for consent to remove it completely. I'd go as far as to say you shouldn't have asked. There is an exemption for removal of a dead tree. End of story. If the consent last year said that you had to plant a replacement if the tree died as a result of reduction to 1 metre, you have to replace. The Council shoudl only have done this if it believed the tree had a chance of survival without being cut down to 1 metre AND was adamant that a tree (any tree) at this location was in the interests of the amenity of the area. No conditions means the Council implicitly knew that it was a last desparate act to salavage something. It didn't work, the tree died. It is then no longer a tree and no longer protected.

Nothing in the Regulations, other than that the Cooncil can grant consent subject to conditions. The conditions could specify species. One could appeal against the condition if the species selection is inappropriate, but it would be difficult to win an appeal against a condition requiring the same species to be planted unless there wasa good reason fort that species being inappropriate. Even where there has been an unlawful removal, the remover is only obliged to plant a suitable size and species replacement. Strictly speaking, it is for the remover to decide this, the Council could only challenge the choice on the basis of unsuitability. But if the remover fails to plant a replacement, the Council CAN specify.

Please confirm what country you are in? Also did you get a formal permission a year ago? Were there conditions attached? What were they? On the face of it I think the Council probably can't insist on a replacement. But proceed carefully, you may have to remove it (if that's what you want to do) under exemption rather than with permission.

If it is a bolete, it will have pores underneath instead of gills. A very useful starter for ID.

Yes!

You don't need to. You need to make them appreciate that an Inspector on appeal will see sense. Then it's up to the COuncil to decide if it wants the grief of losing an appeal. That said, referring to Council officials like that on a publicly visible website aint going to get you off to a good start in persuading anyone. Some TOs are decent hard working people, most are, although there are a couple that I wouldn't piss on if they were on fire. I'm not fussed about offending them, they probably know already.

I think I know how it happens, but not why it only happens to some sycamores.

Urgency depnds on what might get hit when it fails at the base, particularly if it has any lean. But removing the brackets probably only needs to be done annually to prevent spore dispersal. Some suggest removing the brackets will stimulate more to grow immediately but I don't believe this as I think the annual fruiting is triggered internally, something to do with CO2 concentrations. It would be interesting to know what happens if you do remove them. It can only help. Fruiting body growth takes all its energy untimately from decaying the tree.

Thsi scalloped bark is not uncommon on Sycamore or Horse Chestnut. I've been trying for years to correlate its occurence with the growing conditions of individual trees, given me another decade and I feel I will have the answer.

Apply for a management permission i.e. re-poll every 3 years?

Not Ganoderma. Possibly Perenniporia fraxinea. Put a bag around the brackets, chisel them off, will not get rid of it but there won't be nay more spores for a year.

it has the look of Inonotus dryadaeus about it.

Box Elder Acer negundo (a.k.a. Manitoba Maple, if you're in Manitoba).

Apple gets everything that's going. Worht clearing all the dead leaf away away in autumn.

Worth considering Salix exigua? It has that leaf edge occasionally.

This is why trees have evolved to shed leaves every year, to get rid of accumulated pests and diseases, damaged leaf etc. It's a willow, they do this.

Shame you've been talked into removing the poplars based on imagined huge stature. These look to be P. candicans 'Aurora' which is a rarity of a poplar on 2 counts. Firstly it is easily managed at a smaller stature, especially as far north as Dumfries. No harder to manage than the cherry, possibly easier. Secondly it is a tree that changes colour all through the growing season. Starts green then goes pink and green then yellow and light green then autumn colours. I've seen them tick over in Selkirk and Bothwell, where they were being managed as little more than large shrubs.

Don't you ever get simple jobs that don't involve the machiavellian machinations of municipal muppets?

Not that much of a riddle, s154 trumps CA, it's one of the statutory exemptions.

Arbtakk discussed this to death a couple of years ago. I recall my take was firstly to gauge how badly the client wants to keep the tree. This will establish whether it's a fight or a budget issue. Secondly if it's a fight, put an application in to remove (or possibly combined crown and root prune during a wall rebuild) and make it clear the tree is damaging the wall and will continue to do so. If refused, the Council will then become liable in compensation for further damage. You'd want a look at the possibility too of catastrophic failure, and if that's a reasonable possibility it might be defensible to undertake reduction based on the TPO risk exemption. The rebuilding will depend on available space. A reinforced concrete wall will be a lot stronger per volume than masonry, so a replacement RC wall could be faced with stone slips cut from the existing wall. It's going to come down to what is considered a reasonable hoop-jumping extent. The Council might not give a damn about expense but the courts don't say you have to go to any lengths to find an engineering solution. And if the Council's being unreasonable then appeal a refusal. An Inspector will probably (eventually) take a more pragmatic view. Ideaslly then the parties will from the outset will anticipate a sensible appeal decision and won't make it have to go that far. The pics suggest it's gone beyond doubt that removal of the wall would contribute quite soon to tree failure. The stones look pushed out so far that it's not just soil pressire, it's actual woody roots. Seriously limited options for cutting back the sorts of knuckles that cause that kind of deflection. The roots won't be needed for support unless htey're going straight downwards, but cuttign them in an aerated 'soil' environment with no room for callus will let in infection. Wrong tree, wrong place. How is the wall protected? Listed building? Is htis in an area of shrinkable clays?

That is shrinkable clay country. It is really impossible to say anythign definite about heave and subsidence on a property wothoout seeing the trees and house. If you have a clear survey and if insurance against subsidence and heave is available at a reasonable price, perhaps that's all you need. You are worried about an oak falling, an oak that thas been there for over 60 years and might still be there in another 100, a tree that has withstood decades of storms. Trees most often are tested to destruction in stormy weather, when no-one is outside. Buildings offer quite a lot of protection against trees too. I'd no more worry about it than I would about taking my daughter to the local park where there are also trees. If you want peace of mind get a tree consultant to inspect the trees every few years. Not free advice form a tree surgeon but a paid-for report. Spread over time it will probably cost you about £0.50 a day for extra peace-of-mind.

I have no experience of it. Might be the original infection point for the fungus.

That's good advice. A suddenly released cable under a lot of tension is an instant killer. Especially with a kio of metal hook on the end.

Are you able to go back and see how this has developed ina a few weeks time?