common lime

I have been told that rabbits do not like talcum powder.

Send your dead, dying and dangerous statutory exemption notice to the planning authority for where the trees are located. There should not be a need submit a report with an application given the description you have given. These trees should fall within the exemption but you should keep evidence that the trees are exempted.

I am not one for the native V non-native argument. It has the same characteristics of all alders, it does not invest in defences against pathogens. Also when you prune your road side tree you have new growth on weakly attached points. Given that it grows very quickly in an urban environment there is very high probability that it will require pruning. So, why would anyone plant this vigours unattractive (plastic catkins, dark leather leaves, boring flowers and bark) in the urban environment? It is using a valuable space where a proper street tree like London plane or lime should be planted.

In the recent past Italian alder (Alnus cordata) has been planted as a common street and car park tree. The Environmental Agency advise against planting alders near to river banks due to the affects of Phytophthora alni has on them.

The kids might have the piece of paper but they do not train pragmatism at University. If you are worried about your study stills the Open Uni have some very good guides for those returning to education. Did you consider doing an Open Uni degree in biology or environmental science?

Sorry, I did not read you first post! Yes you are correct, taking a tree down in stages to prevent heave is a complete waste of time. The soil will make the same level of recovery no matter how many stages you take the tree down in and this finally recovery will be delayed by doing the work in stages. Therefore the final fix to any insured structures will also be delayed. I would also suggest before your client commissions an engineer's report, he should first find a legal opinion! Given that if your client is considered a layman in regards to clay shrinkage subsidence he might not own a duty of care to his neighbours. Because as a layman he has no reasonable foreseeability into his actions of removing the tree, thus no liability were heave damage occur to the neighbouring properties. Also were heave damage occur to these properties and he is a layman then the ABI (Association of British Insurance) Root Agreement kicks in and he would not be held libel for the cost of heave damage on the first occasion. Finally checkout his household policy to see if he is covered for heave damage to his house. I am going have nightmares about cracking now!

I was told at a workshop for the new BS 5837 (2005) that Metheney & Clark had made an improvement on Table 1 of the old BS 5837 (1991). That the 12x DBH was an educated estimate on where the majority of tree species roots should be located.

It has been so long I have state the wrong BRE number it is BRE 412 Desiccation in clay soils.

I thank heaven that I do not do subs anymore. You will find the heave calculation in BRE Digest 298 this should be done by a structural engineer. They will require you to ID the tree and estimate its age but they will have to do the rest of the calculation with the help of soil analysis. That way it will be their PI insurance at risk and not yours:001_rolleyes: