Pleasington tree removal sparks planning row (From Lancashire Telegraph)
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Pleasington tree removal sparks planning row
7:00pm Saturday 18th August 2012 in News
SILVER birch trees have been cleared from a patch of land sparking a planning row.
Frank Barnes, of Regents Close, Pleasington, cut down the trees on the patch of land he owns behind the three bungalows near the Butlers Arms pub.
But he was shocked when Blackburn with Darwen Council’s tree preservation officer Russell Critchley imposed a replanting order on the land.
According to council chiefs, Mr Barnes was only given permission to thin the trees on the land, not clear them.
But the 75-year-old said that was never the case.
Mr Barnes said: “In 2009, one of the trees was overhanging on the road and a woman damaged her car, so the neighbours asked me to remove it.
“When the tree surgeon had a walk through the wood, he found a number of trees were in a dangerous condition.”
Mr Barnes commissioned a survey of the trees in the wood, which saw a number of them tagged, meaning they needed to be removed, and several more sprayed with a red dye, also meaning they should be chopped down.
He submitted the findings of the survey along with a planning application to cut down the trees and permission was granted.
But work was soon ceased by the council.
It was explained to Mr Barnes that the council did not pay attention to the red dye and so deemed that these had not formed part of its planning approval.
A meeting was held between Mr Barnes, Mr Critchley and two Pleasington councillors, Couns Alan Cottam and John Pearson, at which it was eventually agreed he could cut down the remaining trees that had been marked.
He said: “In May, I received a letter saying I had agreed to replant oak trees, four metres apart, on the land.
“I did not agree to plant any trees whatsoever. But the letter said that, because I hadn’t done so, a replanting order was being imposed.”
Mr Barnes has appealed the order.
Pleasington councillor Alan Cottam said he wanted to see the trees replanted.
He said: “The landowner has gone over the top and cut too many of them down. I would like to see the land replanted.”
Comments(11)
notac
says...
9:53pm Sat 18 Aug 12
Darwen Malc
says...
11:35pm Sat 18 Aug 12
Well, no, they are not part of 'our heritage', they are part and parcel of nature. Yes, you can 'control' the spread of them if they were to threaten the balance of nature, but to use the excuse that trees can be a menace because they dont allow light onto the road in winter, or overgrown bushes are a threat and a risk to vehicles, is simply stating that we are superior to nature and everything should go 'mans way'. Then why not go the whole hog, chop down every tree and hedgerow, then birds will have nowhere to nest, feed and rear their young, then that will affect their predators, who will then decline in number, and onwards and downwards we go, so lets hurry it up, eh, lets tarmac and concrete everything, after all, man is Sooooo superior...NOT.
fabinribblevalley
says...
10:01am Sun 19 Aug 12
fabinribblevalley
says...
10:01am Sun 19 Aug 12
sean_brfc
says...
11:10am Sun 19 Aug 12
buzzinfly
says...
12:44pm Sun 19 Aug 12
Skookie
says...
5:26pm Sun 19 Aug 12
Roversboy
says...
11:13am Mon 20 Aug 12
milano
says...
10:10pm Mon 20 Aug 12
Open_Mind
says...
3:56pm Tue 21 Aug 12
Don't rely on Spellchecker wrote:20 ft a year.....are you stupid
There is a ridiculous situation going on in Pleasington with EVERY tree subject to a Tree Preservation Order.
This is just a money making scheme for the Council whereby in order to "trim" a tree (which BTW will grow approx 20ft per year) one has to apply via the Planning Process - and therefore PAY the Council who decide if you are to be allowed to maintain a status quo in terms of height on every single tree in the Village.
In Mr Barnes' case he followed the correct procedure for a group of trees that can only be described as "weeds" - paid the appropriate fee, waited for the due process to take place and acted on the permission granted.
If anyone were to visit this site they would realise - with a tincy wincy bit of common sense - that these particular trees are out of control and have been allowed to "fester" for far too many years and should have been trampled down at birth to avoid this situation 20 years on.
Travelling "Over the Tops" through Pleasington one can see how overgrown the trees are and what damage is being done to the road in winter when NO SUN AT ALL reaches the road surface during the day and all the hedgerows are so overgrown that there is now a serious risk to vehicles travelling down the road.
Trees in the right place are a wonderful part of our heritage and countryside but left to reproduce without proper control are a menace that threaten the ecological system and remove the natural light that we - as citizens - should be entitled to experience.
Good Luck in your appeal Mr Barnes - as a resident of Pleasington I shall be writing to the Council to defend your stance.
(If you should fail - plant the oak trees and I will come and stand on them on two years time.)
Alan Cottam hang your head in shame.
based on your figure the tree that was planted in the back of my family home garden by my great grandad over 100yrs ago should be taller than the new Shard building in London.
You're having a laugh
Don't rely on Spellchecker says...
9:39pm Sat 18 Aug 12
This is just a money making scheme for the Council whereby in order to "trim" a tree (which BTW will grow approx 20ft per year) one has to apply via the Planning Process - and therefore PAY the Council who decide if you are to be allowed to maintain a status quo in terms of height on every single tree in the Village.
In Mr Barnes' case he followed the correct procedure for a group of trees that can only be described as "weeds" - paid the appropriate fee, waited for the due process to take place and acted on the permission granted.
If anyone were to visit this site they would realise - with a tincy wincy bit of common sense - that these particular trees are out of control and have been allowed to "fester" for far too many years and should have been trampled down at birth to avoid this situation 20 years on.
Travelling "Over the Tops" through Pleasington one can see how overgrown the trees are and what damage is being done to the road in winter when NO SUN AT ALL reaches the road surface during the day and all the hedgerows are so overgrown that there is now a serious risk to vehicles travelling down the road.
Trees in the right place are a wonderful part of our heritage and countryside but left to reproduce without proper control are a menace that threaten the ecological system and remove the natural light that we - as citizens - should be entitled to experience.
Good Luck in your appeal Mr Barnes - as a resident of Pleasington I shall be writing to the Council to defend your stance.
(If you should fail - plant the oak trees and I will come and stand on them on two years time.)
Alan Cottam hang your head in shame.