kevinjohnsonmbe

Old Jethro joke! Cornish accent

I see what you mean, but your starting assumption (above) is not necessarily 100% accurate - certainly not in relation to CAs. It is the justification document which sets out those elements of historic character which combine to provide the qualification of any given area as CA designation. It’s just as likely that trees may not feature at all in a CA designation assessment but they do still enjoy the protections afforded regardless of the complete absence of their contribution. To put that into context, historic Cornish fishing port designated CA for the quintessential, post card-ness of the harbour and wider town - not a tree on site and certainly no historic reference to trees in the fishing harbour yet, every scraddedy assed garden Leylandii with a stem diameter greater than 75mm is required to be validated by the LA. That could be regarded as shortsightedness in the drafting of the legislation or perhaps over zealousness or even lack of motivation to challenge the application of poor legislation…. Who knows. I’d take the view though, that power once divested to an ‘authority’ will never be returned to its original owner.

Hidden within an otherwise excellent post is this little nugget ⬆️ I’d contest that it is more likely to be an awareness of elements of the illogical, indefensible or unfair within existing bureaucracy, rather than a failure to understand it, which creates aversion to it. It seems to be an ever increasing tendency to dismiss a view which differs from one’s own, and to assume the other party needs to be, somehow, bent to one’s own POV, with opening phrases like - what you have to understand is….

No Mick, not at all - but it is by no means a flawless system. I would say my biggest gripe, if there was one, would be the perception that “amenity” in all of its non-definable vagaries is over used as a catch-all to justify TPO where there is insufficient determination, knowledge or willingness to challenge the inappropriate and that within the general assessment process, there (certainly appears to be) a complete lack of ‘weight’ added (where appropriate) to (often the applicant and / or tree owner) perception of disadvantage they are suffering - whether real or perceived. that’s going off on a bit of a tangent though. The point I was trying to highlight was that once confirmed, you won’t wrestle that authority away from the LA - regardless of any recommendations that they should review.

Au contraire Rodney! the main purpose of a TPO is to provide LA staff with a degree of authority, decision making power and sense of importance. Once that power is divested from the people to “the man” it will never be willingly surrendered back to the people. There’s another broader life lesson in there - give up your freedoms and they are gone forever!

I didn’t mean you - obviously! Weme in the genius club lounge drinking gratis Stella and having a complimentary lap dance 🕺

There would be a stronger argument for TPO review if it were, as sounds likely but not specified, an Area TPO rather than an other type. LA is ‘advised’ to keep TPO register under review and an ATPO should be reviewed / up dated within 6 months. There are even ombudsman rulings which openly criticise LA for failure to update / review ATPO but it all amounts to about nowt in reality. There are many ATPOs in my county of residence which are 60-70 years old. It’s not at all uncommon and just 1 of many examples of administrative compromise in an imperfect system.

You’ve ALL completely missed the point you dullards and the OP is attempting to solve a problem that doesn’t exist. You haven’t read the question! The OP has expressed concern that the NEIGHBOUR may be disgruntled if he (the tree owner) takes 8 weeks or more to trim a low hanging branch which the neighbour has identified as being a PITA (I intentionally avoid the word ‘nuisance’ as that can start other hares running.) The solution: Tree owner tells neighbour to submit his own TPO application since he doesn’t need to be the tree owner to do so. That way the neighbour can be properly neighbourly and approach the tree owner with an approved application, a detailed work spec and an invitation to pay. Everyone is happy….. My invoice is in the post….

I'd change your word "wealthy" for "righteous" since if the correct circumstances prevail, a just man should be able to rely upon the sound interpretation of the law resulting in a fair judgement. In reality though, you'd have to have deep pockets, big kahoonas or a complete disregard for personal finances to embark on such a journey. In the mean time, all those of us that lack any or all of the attributes noted above will likely just carry on presenting well reasoned and justified TPO applications whilst treading the fine line between what the tree owner wants, what the planning department will approve and what is best for the tree.

No mate forty squid a month and most of that is the bloody standing charge!

And that is exactly the point I took away from the Dr Mynors presentation to the assembled masses (60-70% TOs I’d guess) at Barcham Trees - what was it now, 5 years ago? There was such a sharp intake of breath at the point Where he suggested there was a fairly broad abatement / prevention TPO exemption that a vacuum was created in the building and several people had to be taken to A+E with ruptured eardrums!

Last week I got an email from EOn telling me my prices were going up…. Not like I wasn’t expecting it. As a consequence of the energy bills support scheme my monthly DD has been suitably adjusted….. From £70/month to £39/month. That £31/month difference will be trickling down my Gregory!

That’s not unreasonable - and a conversation I would happily have - apart from the pay what you want part. it’d be pay for a day at the price I set and if you ain’t happy we won’t do any more rather than pay what you want. What communist, new age hippy shit is that? Madness, I set the rates, they are nobody’s business but my own and the person that’s paying them.

That’s the one.

There is a third option….

Pretty desperate state of affairs. They are damned if they bin her and damned if they don't... I knew people would come to regret taking a dump on Boris - oh the irony, those that seem to have the most to loose from having done so are within the Tory party 😂

Is it suppressed or is it simpler than that…. Is it just ignored as tosh? I don’t know. I’m certainly not averse to listening to such theories (I like the Russel Brand podcast) but it certainly does bring back to the reality of, if it is accurate, whaddaya gonna actually do? Nobody really cares enough to even temporarily distract them self from their own meaningless hamster whee existence.

And that’s where the problem started Dr….

Did you tell ‘em to focus on flower arranging and leave he2-stroke to the big boys 😂

It's a commonly held belief Mark that if the tree owner says they don't want the pruning then the pruner has to remove it - and that's probably not a bad starting point. It's not predetermined however that the pruner MUST remove them, 9 ½ times out of 10 its just as easy to do so but on that ½ an occasion, even if it is just for the shits and giggles, its worth knowing that what is cut remains the property of the tree owner. Heaving it all in a big shitty heap is notably antisocial, often unnecessary and not great for reputation but sometimes the job really does warrant such reaction and there is not much (depending upon the size, scale and position of the heap) that can actually be done about it. Like I say 99.99% of the time not an issue - but for that 0.01% of 'special' people....

RIPA doesn't apply to a private individual....

Fly-tipping is the only crime where the victims (private landowners) have a legal responsibility to dispose of the waste. Under current legislation, landowners can be prosecuted if they fail to remove fly-tipped waste quickly enough. Is it even fly tipped if the person upon whose land the arisings arise is not arisen? 🤣

I disagree. I have had neighbour dispute where the ‘encroached’ wanted trees trimmed at their expense but didn’t want to dispose of that which encroached. Tree owner didn’t want what was cut off either. I simply stacked it on the other side of the boundary by reaching over. A reasonably tidy pile, by no means ‘dumped’ without due care but across the boundary it went. (it didn’t hurt that I also thought the tree owner was an unreasonable dick who, as a county councillor, thought they could throw their weight around.) The site discussion was legendary! The debate started about what could or couldn’t be pruned when I interjected to inform the tree owner that the only reason they were invited was to confirm if they ‘wanted’ the arisings back or not and even that was academic since they would be getting them anyway. Talk about suck a lemon - had never seen a person so afflicted with verbal diarrhoea turn so pink and silent 😳

What? You didn't like Greece pucking in the Fo'c'sle? That was my fav bit 😂

You can't say I've got nothing and then come back with less than nothing... It just illustrates how weak and futile your justification case is. OK, so there is some loss of freedom of movement - how many people does that effect exactly? I get that you feel it more than most but for the vast, overwhelming majority it is completely unnoticeable. UK business difficulty trading in Europe - yup, OK, but with less restrictive EU barriers for worldwide trade right so again - how many businesses does that actually effect? Does it effect imports from the Far East? No. The (relatively) few businesses that are adversely effected are always then s that are interviewed and make the most noise. Nobody ever asked me how if has effected my business - I wish they would. It HASN'T but that's not what is being projected. Illegal immigration is not an EU issue. It happened whilst within the EU and it is happening outside of the EU. NHS staffing may be impacted, to a degree, by Brexit but to a larger degree by Covid. In fact, f*ck it, I can't be bothered with it.... Whatever.