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24.0 PROTECTION OF TREES
Proposal: Unless they are designating a woodland for protection, planning authorities should be required to identify individually all the trees which are to be the subject of a tree preservation order.
Source: Comment from practice.
Present position: Section 160(1) of the 1997 Act empowers a planning authority to make a tree preservation order directed at such trees, groups of trees or woodlands as may be specified in the order. The power to include groups of trees is interpreted by some authorities as permitting them to adopt a blanket approach and to include all trees in a defined area, regardless of their merit. While a TPO must be justified in the interests of amenity, a planning authority confirm their own order and practice suggests there is rarely anything to be gained through the objection procedure. Once confirmed, the TPO can then be invoked by the planning authority to prevent development and there is no opportunity to challenge its merits.
Implementation: The wording in s.160(1) would need clarification so as to require planning authorities to identify the trees making up a group and to justify their contribution to amenity.
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