Hi All
Original poster here and the tree owner.
Five days are receiving a mail from the Arboricultural Co-ordinator
(Planning and Development - Tree Team) acknowledging my concern about the trench/roots etc, raising the issue of the fungal brackets and saying it was being invesitaged, I then received a mail from Planning saying they were closing the file.
After sign off on the initial mail from the Arboricultural Co-ordinator she seemed to leave some information I think she meant to delete - it read
"I note the tree has some fungal fruiting brackets on the stem and this
is indicative of decay within. The owners should get their tree
inspected to determine the extent of decay and whether the fracture
safety of the tree is compromised. At the very least the decay will
have reduced the trees safe useful life expectancy. However, the root
severance works will have caused additional harm such that the tree may
now need to be removed for safety reasons.
I will let the tree owner know about the decay, but I also think we
should take this apparent 'offence' further with the developer, possibly
a PACE interview on site"
We then went onto receive the following mail from the Enforcement Officer, Development Control, Planning & Property Services:
I have had the time to review both the works on site and the permitted landscaping scheme for the Boulters Meadow development.
Although it would appear than condition 18 11/02432 may not have been executed in the correct manner, it would be very difficult to prosecute this as the landscaping scheme being implemented has superseded this.
The position and heights of the fencing are also acceptable in line with the landscaping. The works to the tree have been to facilitate this and as such are exempt by virtue of being approved under a planning consent.
I am closing the file. Should you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Our initial thought was great - we get to keep our tree. No hassle. Then the concern over whether damage has actually occurred but by closing the file, mistakes made by planning get swept under the carpet and we're then held liable should the tree fail or should the people moving into the homes where the tree substantially hangs over their garden start complaining about it, we'll have to remove it based on the fundal brackets argument !!!! aargh
I am also going to have a chat with my neighbour who has been living in his house a lot longer than we have ours- He went to all the local meetings that were held early on during the planning stages and he keeps saying that the TPO on our tree was a hot topic - so I'm going to see if he can shed any light on documentation that might mention this tree.
Definitely not happy just to close the file. Suspicious of that one.....
Someone asked earlier if the tree looks great in the summer. It looks amazing. Absolutely stunning, I'll try and find a photo. Just feel like we're between a rock and a hard place but whatever happens now I do think we definitely need an expert opinion on the stability of the tree.