Gary Prentice

Does a TPO application have to determined on the reasons given in the application only? Ignoring other factors that may be relevant but omitted in the application. For example, it a tree owner has, say, raised the soil level around the tree by two or three metres and the LA is threatening prosecution for a contravention, but the tree was in such poor condition/dying (before the hypothetical said grade change) that an application to remove it would have to be consented - is the LA forced to consider it's condition only? All purely hypothetical of course.

How much analytical information do you require to gather from the process? I just wonder with an app how much work is necessary to tailor it to your needs and whether it would be as easy to create your own in excel. It's not difficult to create drop down lists to select yes/no answers along with the ability to add comments.

Thanks for the update. Sounds like you handled everything correctly to avoid any future comebacks. The problem is that everyone looks to everyone else to blame if problems occur later. The tree people, us, should only be providing tree information for the structural engineer, who hopefully has information on soil type and shrink/swell potential. They then do the calculations for the potential of vegetation to cause subsidence if retained/heave if removed and design the foundations accordingly. They are the ones that tell the builder what foundation depth/design should be and provide that information for the building regs people to sign off. Saying that, I asked a structural engineer recently where he'd got his information from, regarding a sites shrink/swell potential, as it differed from mine. His company used a moderate potential, as an average for the area, rather than get proper tests to confirm BGS mappings low potential. Maybe no big deal, but on that site I'd imagine it would add a good few thousand pound to the foundation cost.

We've had foxes for a number of years, in our small urban garden. Mama fox brought her cub the other night, she must be teaching it where to come for food. She brought it around the side of the house, then jumped up onto the retaining wall into the garden proper, sat and watched it investigate and discover where the missus puts their food.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Collins-Tree-Guide-Owen-Johnson/dp/0007207719

Fixed that for ya!

However did we manage in the 80's and 90's?

Is there actually a duty to replant if the trees coppice? Another thread, on another forum , concludes that if a TPO tree is felled and then coppices, the new stems are then protected.

I think that for TPO/CA contraventions it has to be a case of 'beyond reasonable doubt', for the case to be proven. So, if trees are felled and another property suddenly gains a sea view, there's now a second party who might have benefitted

Park outside!

It would seem unjust to force someone to bear the cost of replanting after they've already suffered the loss of the original trees.

I wouldn’t think so. Replanting notices and conditions are normally in response to applications or contraventions.

Probably H/C bleeding canker https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/pest-and-disease-resources/bleeding-canker-of-horse-chestnut/ Looks like the trees adapting well with the incremental strips up the stem.

And always make it clear that's the 'while I'm here' price. Too many clients say " I'll talk to the husband/wife" and then phone a week later expecting you to go back to their house, for the "while I'm here" price.

And then trusted another client and got done again

It will be everywhere, we have lots of mature highway ash so the street scene will be very similar to Sheffield. Being airborne, there's nothing much that can be done. Unfortunately, unlike elms the timber degrades quickly and you just know that owners will delay removal until they start shedding big dead limbs. Some are going to be really bad to remove.

Agree with Steve, I don't know where you stand in whether you have any contractual status, or not. Small claims court would look at what was a reasonable, average cost for the job and hopefully take that into account. Unless it's a lot of money, to you, I'd accept it as learning by experience and don't make the mistake again. For extras instructed on site by an absent client even a text message confirming agreement of the extra cost is worth the few minutes it takes. Takes the "I said/you said" out of any argument.

Once you see one and get your 'eye in' Ben, you start to see it everywhere and then wonder how you didn't see it before. I think I saw it coming off the M1, last week,for Loughborough uni - J22?

I’m ordering some! Everytime I see someone looking at their phone, I can activate it.

Give it a few years. can anyone give an estimation of the longevity of mature trees after infection?

I've gone off eating mushrooms!

Only in one post Stubby