Arboricultural Association
To advance the science of arboriculture for the public benefit

Up Front - Summer 2007

Industry news and views, events, technical developments and people.
A Quarterly message from the Arboricultural Association by Nick Eden, posted Summer 2007
(This message is published in the Arboricultural Association's March Newsletter. For your regular copy, join us)

It was becoming increasingly apparent that the regular newsletter articles ‘Up-Front’ and ‘Chairman’s Message’ were converging so chairman John Booth and Director Nick Eden have joined forces ….

So what’s new? Well, let’s start by looking at what’s old. The longer standing members will recall all too well the difficulties in years gone by when the Association was struggling to keep its head above water. Finances were low, reserves were unsustainably used to pay annual running costs and the Association’s standards and quality controls were regularly and rightly criticised eg AA Approved Contractors (AAAC’s) and AA Registered Consultants (AARC’s) were given ‘tickets for life’ with no monitored CPD requirement

So, what has changed and what is new? Actually, an awful lot ….

Financial Status

In recent years the Arboricultural Association has seen unprecedented growth and expects 2007 to be one of the most exciting stages its 40+ year history of serving British arboriculture.

We are now enjoying financial buoyancy and start this year with reserves of slightly less that £0.5million. This is, in part at least, the result of increasing membership numbers – closing 2006 with over 2,000 members – surely a reliable barometer of success of any member organisation? It is also due to the increasing number of highly successful CPD events run by the Association. This financial stability has enabled the Association to recruit additional staff. Three permanent technical staff from within the industry, ably supported by an efficient administration team, dedicated Trustees and a streamlined working committee structure facilitate the Association to continue to deliver great things for trees, the arboricultural industry, those who work in it and the UK population at large whom it serves. The possible downside to this expansion is that HQ is bursting at the seams. However, a long term aspiration of the Association has been to secure its own premises, approved by the Charity Commission, and the reserves place the Association in a good position to consider all the available options.

Maintaining Standards

During the year the Association will re-assess about 30 of its 130 AA Approved Contractors to check their standards are maintained and is likely to assess about 10-15 new applicants. In April AA Registered Consultants benefited from a CPD day that was exclusive to them (and paid-up applicant AARCs) and was specifically targeted to their requirements: Francis Schwarze spoke on the significance of Meripilus, Sir Louis Blom-Cooper QC spoke on the implication of the Meadow v GMC case for consultants and the Planning Inspectorate provided a speaker on BS 5837: 2005 from the PINS point of view.

10% of AA Fellows and Professional Members have had their CPD records checked this year by the Association to ensure standards are being maintained. CPD is an essential part of being professional and those failing to demonstrate a commitment to maintaining their CPD will be down-graded to Associate membership.

Chartered Status

It is pleasing to be able to advise that early in 2007 the Association achieved constituent body status in the Society for the Environment.

It is even more pleasing to announce that the Association achieved Licenced Body status on 1 June 2007. It now assessing applicants wishing to achieve the status of Chartered Environmentalist – that means those members who are successful will be able to use the initials CEnv after their names and stand comfortably with other chartered professionals such as architects, engineers, foresters and other experts. Further details and an application form can be found on www.trees.org.uk/join.php.

TrustMark

The Association’s application to be licenced to award TrustMark status to arboricultural contractors has been delayed slightly by its efforts to achieve its licence with SocEnv (above). Soon, however, it expects to be able to award this new status for arboriculture, the only nationwide Government backed scheme to help householders find reputable tradesmen. The TrustMark standard will be similar to the AA Approved Contractor scheme though less technically demanding and incorporating more consumer protection features. It is anticipated that special arrangements will be available to existing AAACs who we expect will see the benefits of joint AAAC and TrustMark registration. AAAC status will remain the pinnacle status of an arboricultural contractor.

Pursuing the persistent ‘Rogue Traders’

Logo abuse has been an issue for the Association for many a year and this has served only to discredit the Association, its members, its AAACs and its AARCs. As we’ve reported before we’re now getting tough!

The AA logo is now a registered Collective Mark empowering the Association to instigate prosecution proceedings against people using the logo in an unauthorised manner and as we write we’re soon to conclude test-case legal action taken against two companies and one individual using the Association’s logo illegally. Their penalties are likely to be severe – rest assured we will publish this nationally! [May we take a moment to remind you that the only people able to use the AA logo are the Association itself, its AARCs and AAACs].

The legal process has been painfully slow but we are able to report that on 11 April 2007 we received a defence from one company and the individual and prepared our response shortly afterwards. The other company made no defence so an application to the High Court was made for judgement against this company. As soon as we know the results we will issue press releases widely, including on www.trees.org.uk/pressrelease.php.

In addition to logo abuse we are aware that some practitioners falsely claim to hold certain qualifications which they do not. The Association takes a dim view of this practice as does the RFS, the owners of the Dip Arb and Cert Arb. Anyone who suspects that these qualifications are being falsely claimed should contact Dr. John Jackson in confidence at the RFS.

A Strategic Direction for the Industry

A major focus for the Association is the development a National Strategy for arboriculture. In 2006 it called, hosted, lead, and funded a national arboricultural strategy ‘think-tank’. Since this, a National Strategy Group has been established and met in May. This group comprises representatives from the Arboricultural Association, the Department for Communities and Local Government, the Institute of Chartered Foresters, the International Society of Arboriculture, Lantra Sector Skills Council, the National Association of Tree Officers and the Tree Council, as well as representatives from the contracting and consulting fraternities. Its brief is to build upon the work done last year and a consultation document will be available for comment soon. What issues do you think are important? Make your comments when the consultation document is published (see www.trees.org.uk/consultpage.php).

Consultation

From time to time the Association is asked for its views on certain matters and indeed it as been criticised in the past for not making representations on some issues. A difficultly has been in establishing what members’ views are and without this the Association could not reasonably claim to represent them in a balanced fashion. A recent development is the inclusion of a consultation link on the Association’s website and when it is asked for comment upon any issue/document it will post relevant ones through this link. In order that we can represent your views we need to know them. The weblink www.trees.org.uk/consultpage.php provides the facility for you to voice your concerns of what often are nationally important issues, please use it.

On the subject of consultation you will recall that NJUG10 is under review and with strong representation from the arboricultural profession including John Booth (AA Chairman) and Pete Jackson (AA Utility Arboriculture Group), good progress is being made. Although NJUG’s Easter deadline was missed it is hoped that the new document will be available at www.njug.co.uk in the summer of 2007.

Coordinating the Efforts of All

Addressing the issues of industry fragmentation is always on the Association’s agenda. We are actively involved with the Arboricultural Liaison Group which includes the AA, the Health and Safety Executive, the Institute of Chartered Foresters, the International Society of Arboriculture UK and Ireland Chapter, Lantra Awards, the National Association of Tree Officers, NPTC, the Tree Council and others. Talks with the ISA(UK/I), the purpose of which is to explore opportunities to avoid duplication and to compliment and promote each others activities, continue.

In response to international demand the Association is facilitating the translation of its Guide to Good Climbing Practice into various other languages and cultures. The Spanish Guide is complete and is available from the Spanish Arboricultural Association. The Association continues to work with other European countries through its European Arboricultural Council representative Chris Cooper Abbs. -

Exceptional Demand and Delivery of Training

CPD is a requirement of the Association’s professional membership grades. It is therefore important that we ensure appropriate training is available for these classes of membership, and for those aspiring to progress or simply keep up to speed with the ever increasingly legislative environment in which we work. Last year demand for AA training was exceptional and this year looks like being no different with 65 different training events programmed throughout the year and featuring in its 2007 training brochure. Three new additions to our programme this year are AutoCAD training for arboriculturalists the need for which has arisen from the review of BS 5837, Trees and Design, sponsored by Barcham Trees and Arboricultural Consultancy. The training schedule is published on www.trees.org.uk/course.php.

In Brief



Nick Eden