Jim C. Smith, National Urban Forestry Adviser, Forestry Commission
On 30th November 2023, Section 115 of the Environment Act 2021 became a statutory duty that all local authorities in England were required to implement. The duty requires local authorities to consult with local residents on the felling of street trees where no exemptions apply.
This new duty is the government’s response to a number of high-profile street tree felling programmes by some local authorities – programmes that proved to be very unpopular with many residents. It seeks to address the public’s concern about these removals by ensuring local authorities base their decisions on arboricultural principles taken by the relevant professional experts who had access to all the information required to make an informed decision on whether or not a street tree should be removed.
It also highlights the ongoing need on the part of local authority tree managers to gather and retain important information on the trees under their control and their surrounding environment so they can evidence any exemptions they may rely on in deciding whether or not to undertake a consultation under the new duty.
The duty balances the need to provide all residents with free and unhindered use of the highway while at the same time ensuring good-quality and healthy trees are retained for all the benefits they bring to the local area, even when they may be causing minor, but resolvable, issues with their surroundings.
Published guidance provides local authorities with advice and guidance on the scope of the duty: which street trees fall within its remit and what other legislative requirements may apply such as the need for a felling licence or if a tree is covered by a tree preservation order. Trees on private or unadopted streets or roads fall outside the scope of this duty.
The guidance also highlights the standards and requirements that the consultation process should follow – requirements such as placing a Notice on the tree or trees to be felled, following the prescribed timescales and publishing the decision taken. It also provides a list of the exemptions that may apply and on which local authorities can rely if they decide a tree they wish to remove does not need to be consulted on.
Examples of these exemptions are: trees that are dead or subject to a Plant Health Act 1967 Notice; those that require removing to implement a valid planning consent; trees that are dangerous or likely to become dangerous prior to the next scheduled inspection; trees needing to be removed so that a statutory undertaker may undertake emergency operational works.
The guidance was developed in conjunction with local authority highway and tree officer associations to address their concerns to ensure the correct decisions on tree and highway management can be made in a timely fashion by expert professionals. The guidance also benefited from comments and suggestions received from local community interest groups.
The purpose of the duty is to ensure greater transparency and accountability to the community on the part of local authorities in how they manage and care for the street trees under their control.
It is anticipated that the numbers of street trees required to be consulted on will be a small proportion of all the other street trees felled under local authority control. This is due largely to greater up take of minor engineering solutions to remedy any issues with uneven footways, deflected kerb edging or minor damage to the fabric of the highway and because most street trees under local authority control are felled for sound arboricultural reasons.
For more information, visit www.gov.uk
This article was taken from Issue 204 Spring 2024 of the ARB Magazine, which is available to view free to members by simply logging in to the website and viewing your profile area.