Ownership of Trees
Case reference FOI2019/01203
Published 4 December 2019
Request
1. Do you conduct an audit or have figures relating to the number of trees that your authority has responsibility for? If so please provide me with a figure for the number of trees at the nearest date you have to (a) 1.4.19 and (b) 1.4.16.
2. How many trees that you have responsibility for were felled by either your employees or contractors working on behalf of your authority in (a) 2016-17, (b) 2017-18 and (c) 2018-19?
3. How many trees for which you have responsibility were planted by your employees or contractors working on behalf of your authority in (a) 2016-17, (b) 2017-18 and (c) 2018-19?
4. How many trees in your authority were subject to a Tree Preservation Order as at (a) 1.4.19, and (b) 1.4.16?
5. How many trees subject to a Tree Preservation Order were felled in the 18-19 financial year? Please provide me with a list showing the number of each species involved.
Response
1.Do you conduct an audit or have figures relating to the number of trees that your authority has responsibility for? If so please provide me with a figure for the number of trees at the nearest date you have to (a) 1.4.19 and (b) 1.4.16.
No. Including saplings, we estimate this to be over 1.5 million trees. We do not have a tree inventory because for this number of trees this is not practicable. All our tree risk management inspections are 'walkover' surveys rather than 'inventory' surveys.
2. How many trees that you have responsibility for were felled by either your employees or contractors working on behalf of your authority in (a) 2016-17, (b) 2017-18 and (c) 2018-19?
3. How many trees for which you have responsibility were planted by your employees or contractors working on behalf of your authority in (a) 2016-17, (b) 2017-18 and (c) 2018-19?
Please see table below:
|
2015/16 |
2016/17 |
2017/18 |
2018/19 |
2019/20 |
|
|
Trees felled on sites where they will be replaced by natural regeneration (not including ash die-back felling) |
DNA |
DNA |
21 |
79 |
20 |
|
Trees felled in areas where they would not be replaced by natural regeneration (not including ash die-back felling) |
DNA |
DNA |
48 |
18 |
24 |
|
Trees felled specifically for ash-die back (sites where they would be replaced by natural regeneration) |
N/A |
N/A |
215 |
1 |
1 |
|
Trees felled specifically for ash-die back (sites where they would not be replaced by natural regeneration) |
N/A |
N/A |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Standard trees planted |
30 |
11 |
31 |
73 |
91* |
|
Whips or plugs planted (woodland management) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
120 |
0 |
|
DNA = data not available |
|||||
|
N/A = not applicable |
|||||
|
* = planned to be planted this winter |
4. How many trees in your authority were subject to a Tree Preservation Order as at (a) 1.4.19, and (b) 1.4.16?
(a) 632 - This is the number of TPO's (individual, group, area or woodland) - not number of trees protected - number of trees cannot be calculated.
(b) 603 - This is the number of TPO's (individual, group, area or woodland) - not number of trees protected - number of trees cannot be calculated
5. How many trees subject to a Tree Preservation Order were felled in the 18-19 financial year? Please provide me with a list showing the number of each species involved.
We do not keep a list of TPO trees felled - decision notices for 2018-19 can all be viewed online. It should be noted just because consent is granted for the felling of the tree, it does not mean that the tree is ever felled in the two year period consent is valid.
Documents
This is Guildford Council's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.
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