Chris at eden

I did ISA and NC Arb back in the mid and late 90's respectively and I would put them at about the same, so L2 in my view. I don't think its anywhere near tech cert but then again I don't think the ND arb is either. Probably why the new version of TC is considered to be L4. It always was in my opinion. I remember having the same conversation with the treelife team about 10 years ago and they were of the same opinion.

Because the regs are about TPO's. Planning permission in its various types is covered by the town and country planning act 1990. When they are talking about planning superseding tpo's its not a good way to think of it. Outline doesn't actually consent anything in reality. Even if you show access and layout and have them approved you cant build it until you discharged the reserved matters which would likely be scale, appearance and landscape. Once you discharge the reserved matters you have consent to build. If part of the approved plans for the landscape RM shows tree removal then this has been consented by the planning department.

That is a strange one as only trees which are removed in contravention or under exemption based on condition are automatically protected (i.e. section 206). If you remove and condition replacement the applicant could: a) appeal the condition. b) or, ignore the condition and appeal the TRN. The council would also need to either serve a new TPO or vary the original at which point there could be an objection to the new order. Not sure if you could object to a replacement tree but its is essentially still a new tree and so I guess so. If they did it through planning then you could still condition replacement which would again come down to appeal. Same thing really.

Spot on, good description. Obviously if the plans agreed at reserved matters show the trees to be removed.

Outline is affectively part of a planning application with the reserved matters being what is let to complete. So if you discharge them all and one covers tree felling which is approved this would supersede.

Outline does not override, only full. You can't agree outline and all of the reserved matters at the same time as that would then be full. The reserved matters are a bit like conditions that you have to discharge to then convert into a full planning consent. So for example. If you go for outline including access and layout that would be a plan view showing where the houses and roads are. The reserved matters would then be scale and appearance (what they look like and how big), essentially the elevations, sections, levels, etc. Another reserved matter would probably be landscape and the 5837 work would probably come in with that, they may create a separate condition though. At that point if you discharged a reserved matter that covered the trees and this showed the tree to be felled that would supersede the TPO but not until that point. You may also go for pure outline which is just the principle of building on the land. You couldn't do an impact assessment at this point as there is no layout and so no way of knowing the impacts. TPO's are a constraint and their removal would be an impact and so it all ties together as you progress. Hope that makes sense? Cheers

Not sure David just relaying what the trainer said. You will note though that I said they are taking out all their old bracing systems, not they have taken them out. I took this as it is an on going system of checks with the old steel ones going and replaced if required. Part of the focus of the seminar was that bracing was overused and in many cases did not need installing at all. Also that quite often it gets installed and then just left with no appropriate checks. They were using Kew as a good example in how they were going back a re-examining what they have done previously and changing if need be. In my experience that doesn't happen on other sites. Apologies if that didn't come across properly in the first instance. Do you do much bracing at your place? What do you use?

No mate, no examples of failed systems but they were massively plugging the product as a fall arrest system. I.e. if the tree does fail it doesn't hit the floor. I see so many of these things fitted incorrectly, too low usually, or massive horizontal subsiding limbs braced to a 200mm leader. Bonkers really. It wasn't cobra though, it was the other one that looks similar, I forget the name. They had a solicitor there also talking about the legal implications and dismissing the myth that if you brace you are leaving yourself wide open. Like many things its about what is reasonable. They briefly touched on the fact that Kew are now taking out all their old bracing systems. Apparently they had some strong winds through and they broke quite a few of the old steel braces but the trees stayed up. Did say though that some of the braces were very old which would obviously contribute. Cheers

I went to a seminar a few weeks back. They were pretty adamant that steel bracing is a thing of the past. Didn't even have any in the lecture or the demo. Also the most recent findings are that even cobra bracing has a significant impact on mass damping and does not allow for the formation of adaptive growth in forks. It actually increases the risk of cupboard door failure if used to secure compression forks. If used on horizontal over-extended limbs it kind of waggles the fork in the opposite direction to the tip if that makes sense. They suggest bracing horizontal limbs closer in to the trunk to counter the effect. The speaker (for this part) was Mac who runs the TRAQ qualification for CAS and the ISA. Mostly based on Mattheck's work I believe. Bracing is a bit of a dark art if you ask me.

From what I remember AMIUG was absorbed by CAS although I think Dealga still runs it in the old format. Hand augers and all that. I wouldn't mind doing it actually, the soils element is supposed to be excellent. Cant hurt to do all 3 that are on offer either.

Looks about right to me. Nice bottle butt symptoms.

Never heard that one before about the licenced product. Where is that from? Is that the one Dealga runs? I have done the mortgage course through CAS and treelife and neither mentioned a fixed price. In fact the CAS one talked about a band of between x and y, cant remember the exact figures. I would prefer not to discuss DD's prices although he does freely do so himself on the course but I did one a few weeks ago where a company had quoted £500 plus the VAT. There was about 8 trees so less than an hour onsite. maybe half a day with writing up and travel. Cheers

Barrel did a paper earlier this year linking summer branch drop to old occluded wounds on limbs which have hidden decay / dysfunction. Don't see why you couldn't apply the same logic to the trunk with the bulging being the result. As Jules said also, the change in the damping characteristics may also play a part. Cheers

I spoke with Dave Dowson about this a year or so ago when I had just finished my L6. He said he gets calls every week from people who want a report from a registered consultant. His advice to me was that over the next 5 years I should aim to get chartered arb, expert witness and AA reg consultant. His logic was I will be 45 by then and so have 20 years working at the top of the industry which in itself is rewarding but you would also be earning a good living. Based on that I am not concerned about the membership fee. Another point worth considering is that his mortgage reports cost 65% more than mine so that soon pays off your costs I would think. On the flipside, I read somewhere that Arbtech turned over £1m last year and they are not reg consultants so it depends on your objectives. Pure money vs. professional recognition. I personally prefer the reg consultant route and will be aiming for that. If and when I get the time that is. Good luck. Cheers

The arboricultural association produce a leaflet on career options based on level of qualifications. For L3 you will be looking at tree surgeon, junior tree officer or tree surveyor most likely. In reality the arb industry is so low on skilled/qualified staff (before I offend anyone - there are lots on here but not enough to meet demand generally) you can push for higher if you apply yourself. I landed a job a few years ago which required L5 and at the time I only had L3. CTC and arbjobs.com have opportunities abroad. If you have any problems finding them ping me an email and I will send you the links. Email on my website. Where are the L3 student from? Cheers

It makes no difference. This will be a section 154 notice ordering the tree owner to cut back the tree to provide adequate clearance over the highway. They will see as a safety issue and if you don't do it they will do it for you then take you to court to recover the costs. If the tree decays and becomes dangerous they could serve you with another notice telling you to fell it. Same process and perfectly legitimate.

Nothing special about them. Level 6 isn't hard in terms of the level, just a lot of work. If you put the effort in you should be ok. The difference with my L6 and someone doing full time uni was, I was working full time as a TO, I was starting my consultancy business from scratch, and my son was born 3 months into my first year. Not enough hours in the day. Actually there was, I just didn't watch TV or have a social life for two years. Doable though if you want it enough. I would imagine a lot of people on here are in the same position with working and studying at the same time and families to support. That's what makes it harder.

Yes I know. I agree with that view. I went off on a bit of a tangent when I got to the end as I thought of the old experience vs. qualifications debate and thought it worth mentioning. Probably should not have done it while responding to your comments as a quote as it looks like I was commenting on a point you hadn't made. Sorry about that.

I would agree with this particularly if you are talking about plant science which would be better acquired from a lecturer than from working as a tree surgeon. The majority of people doing degrees will complete these prior to gaining any kind of experience in whatever their field. Yes you need the underpinning knowledge but that is why the QCF is built on levels and courses have pre-requisites. Surely? You will never come out of university knowing everything but if you have a good academic grounding then surely this must enrich the experience you then go on to gain. I personally have always found that experience vs. qualifications argument to be a little superfluous. Surely you need both.

I shall bow to your superior knowledge of Scottish legislation then Jules. I assumed it would be pretty straight forward like the English regs. i.e. the 2012 regs supersede all others in England so the exemptions mentioned in there are the only ones you need to worry about. I'm glad in not on the border and have to work to two separate set of rules.

The majority of the advice given here (including mine) is from the 2012 regs which doesn't apply to Scotland. Jules is the only one that looked at the Scottish Act as that is his area. If in doubt, download the legislation and check the CA exemptions for yourself. They are easy to understand and will take you about 10 mins if you skim it.

I haven't done FdSc but I would agree with the comments. FdSc is L5 and so too much of a jump from L2. There was a lad on the first day of my L6 2nd year who went straight from L2 against the advice of the tutor who said do L4 first. He only came once as he quickly realised the jump was too much. You have two choices really. 1. Do an L3 arb course such as national diploma and then go on to FdSc. 2. or, go on to L4 and then L6. You are probably better set up for this route with doing L2 first. I did this route with tree life and would highly recommend it. Cheers

Interesting post.

It was the brown leaves which I assume are from the scion, the bark, and the buds that made me think Amelanchier. No idea what the rootstock is, looks more like thorn to me but the pick's not great. They are both Rosaceae so I suppose either could work. I'm no grafting expert but I would think it would make more sense to graft onto thorn than Sorbus. Could be wrong though.

As Paul said, they should be measured at 1.5m not DBH which is 1.3, a forestry measurement. I'm pretty sure this is discussed in regulation 15 which covers CA exceptions within the regs. In the case of multi stem trees you use the thickest stem, if that is over 75mm then a notice is required. If they are below 75mm then not. You can increase this to 100mm in some circumstances. .e.g. thinning woodlands.