Representation by The Woodland Trust (The Woodland Trust)
- Date submitted
- 22 March 2024
- Submitted by
- Other statutory consultees
The Woodland Trust is the UK's largest woodland conservation charity and a leading voice in bringing to the attention of government, landowners and the general public the state of the UK’s woods and trees. We own over 1,000 sites across the UK, covering over 30,000 hectares and we have over 500,000 members and supporters. The Trust also campaigns with the support of local communities, to prevent any further destruction of ancient woods and veteran trees. We are an evidence-led organisation, using existing policy and our conservation and planning expertise to assess the impacts of development on ancient woodland and veteran trees. Planning responses submitted by the Trust are based on a review of the information provided as part of a planning application. We are particularly concerned about the potential impacts of this development on ancient and veteran trees. The applicant has provided an Arboricultural Impact Assessment to accompany this submission, within which is a tree survey detailing the trees within proximity to the proposed works. The applicant has identified a single tree as a veteran specimen despite the presence of a number of sizeable trees that have been noted as having deadwood and decay features that could indicate veteran status. That includes the following trees: T052, G081, G149, T165, T208, T211, T225, T232, T233. Tree T233, in particular, appears to be a considerable oversight for ancient or veteran status considering this hybrid black poplar has a girth of approximately 6 metres, a girth that would typically indicate ancient status in most tree species, never mind veteran status. We are concerned by the applicant’s methodology for affording ancient and veteran status to surveyed trees. They appear to have determined that veteran trees need to meet criteria associated with all three characteristics of age, size and condition. This is a step away from Government recommendations. The Planning Practice Guidance (PPG) for Natural Environment, which is used to provide additional clarity on the status of ancient and veteran trees, states: “Ancient trees are trees in the ancient stage of their life. Veteran trees may not be very old but exhibit decay features such as branch death or hollowing. Trees become ancient or veteran because of their age, size or condition. Not all of these three characteristics are needed to make a tree ancient or veteran as the characteristics will vary from species to species.” As such, the Woodland Trust considers that trees within the development area have not been afforded ancient and veteran status appropriately and that protections required for such trees, i.e. extended buffer zones/root protection areas, have not been applied accordingly. Therefore, it appears that this scheme is likely to result in adverse impacts on ancient and veteran trees. We would appreciate the opportunity to address this concern with the Examining Authority and the Applicant.