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| To advance the science of arboriculture for the public benefit |
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| To advance the science of arboriculture for the public benefit |
Up Front - September 05
Industry news and views, events, technical developments and people.
A Quarterly message from the Arboricultural Association by Nick Eden, posted September 2005
(This message is published in the Arboricultural Association's September Newsletter. For your regular copy, join us)
"I view the AA as the enemy" was a comment I didn't expect to receive at Trade Fair. I asked further and found this particular individual felt the AA was destroying his market sector – he wasn't a ‘white-van-man' doing everything for cash with no paperwork, nor was he someone with 100% compliance with every regulation known to man – he was somewhere in the middle, making a sort-of reasonable living doing a sort-of reasonable job.
So, is the AA polarising the industry? I believe the industry is polarising but I don't think it's because of the AA. I think you have to look further than the AA to see why, and our Chairman Jonathan Hazell listed the most pertinent reasons in essentialARB issue 15:
So, will there be a move away from the middle ground to good and bad, compliant and non-compliant? Time will tell. In the meantime the AA is continuing to raise awareness of the risks of using white-van-man through the ‘Choosing Your Arborist' leaflet and by taking action against two companies using the AA's logo illegally.
Paul Smith Takes over the Approved Contractor Scheme Planning Conditions Survey Treework Environmental Practice/AA Seminars Employers – Voice your Issues What's a Tree Worth? British Standards Working on the Highway? What else in the September issue?
The number of AA Approved Contractor applications has been going up consistently for the last five years and 2005 looks like being no exception. Paul, who joined the Association's staff in June 2005, has taken over the running of the scheme from Guy, under the direction of Professional Committee. Guy retains the Registered Consultant Scheme and Arboricultural Accreditation for Local Government Officers scheme. Both are available to answer technical enquiries – and we get loads!
With over 50 respondents we now have a great pool of information that is being reviewed by Jim Quaife, our chair-elect. This will steer the evolution of Planning Conditions (PCs) and make them more effective in protecting trees.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister will ensure that the PCs are legally correct and the Royal Town Planning Institute is enthusiastically supporting this work. RTPI members are the ‘end-users' of PCs – by using them day after day they find out by application how practical and effective they are and will therefore bring an important focus to this work.
Jim will be presenting a paper at Conference later this month on the results so far. Final results and examples of good practice will be published to be a source of inspiration and encouragement to authorities nationwide.
Following the very successful TEP/AA Seminar ‘Tree Micro-Ecology & Diagnostic Technology: Perceptions of disease and Decay in Trees', (reviewed by Tony Whitehead in the September 2005 Newsletter) two more seminars are programmed towards the end of the year – ‘Wind Load Simulation in Trees (Management for Extreme Climatic Events)' and ‘Life Within and Beneath the Tree'. See calendar for further details.
Lantra Sector Skills Council is giving employers the opportunity to contribute to discussions which will shape training and skills provision in our industry. Called Sector Skills Agreements, your comments are invited.
This is an increasingly important question that needs an answer. With ever increasing pressures on budgets an important lever for justifying budget allocation is the value of the tree stock to be managed.
Whilst the Helliwell system is commonly accepted as the industry standard in the UK for placing a monetary value on a tree's or woodland's visual amenity there is little hard evidence available to justify this claim. There is a rather fragmentary list of cases that various people have noted over the years and the Association is now trying to compile a list of legal texts as authority for its use. Can you help? The system's author Rodney Helliwell has started the work – can you supply examples?.
At Conference the concepts behind the new BS5837 will be explained by its revision panel chairman Richard Nicholson and panel member Julian Forbes Laird will lead a practical session on applying the tree grading system.
There is no clear indication of when BS3998 will become available for public consultation but it will be posted on our website as soon as it is.
Here's an introduction to a project that the Association is involved with that is unlikely to happen quickly, but could have far reaching effects for those undertaking tree work on highway land.
The Highways Agency has a number of established schemes governing the procurement and undertaking of work on the nation's major highway network (motorways, dual carriageways and other ‘significant' single carriageway roads). There are schemes covering electrical installation and maintenance, crash barrier installation and so on. These are called National Highway Sector Schemes (NHSS).
Currently there is no NHSS covering the work that arboricultural contractors and consultants undertake – but that may change. Neil Huck, president of the British Association of Landscape Industries is chairing meetings with the Highways Agency, BALI, the Arboricultural Association, British Standards Institute, Lantra Sector Skills Council, NPTC and others to devise a scheme for the ‘Environment and Landscape' sector.
Documents are at an early draft stage and are likely to be years rather than months before completion. However, the document states "Firms undertaking arboriculture and tree surgery shall be Arboricultural Association Approved Contractors". TAKE NOTE! Certainly as there is no other accreditation scheme certifying the competence of arboricultural contracting companies in the UK the Association will be supporting this approach. For arboricultural advice the AA Registered Consultant scheme is likely to feature equally prominently.
Although the NHSS covers only the nation's major highways most County Highway Authorities have adopted the NHSS standards for works in other sectors, so reading between the lines, this could have impacts for all highway tree works in time to come.
The AA has been involved in shaping the latest tranche of e-government as far as it affects trees. The e-Service Delivery Standards will set comprehensive benchmarks that will enable
Local Authorities to assess their current level of e-enablement – more details in the Newsletter
The AA Guide to Good Climbing Practice, launched June 2005 shows the UK is streets ahead of other countries in its response to the European Temporary Work at Height Directive
(interpreted in the UK as the Work at Height Regulations 2005) and the arboricultural industry ahead of many other UK industries in developing guidance so quickly.
Thanks to Stihl and Forestry and British Timber for their part in the success of the show. Next year's dates are 23rd and 24th June 2006.
– the Physical Agents (Vibration) Directive, which became ‘live' on 6th July this year.
Stihl provide a guide to compliance with the Regulation from the practitioners' point of view – more in the Newsletter.
Nick Eden
Director
Arboricultural Association