Agenda and draft minutes

There were no minutes from the previous meeting.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Hearn.

A member with a disclosable pecuniary interest or a personal interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered -

1.            must disclose the interest at the start of the meeting or when the interest becomes apparent

and, if the interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest, or a personal interest which is also prejudicial

2.            may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter (and must withdraw to the public seating area) unless they have been granted a dispensation.

A member who discloses at a meeting a disclosable pecuniary interest which is not registered in the Members’ Register of Interests, or is not the subject of a pending notification, must notify the Monitoring Officer of the interest within 28 days of the disclosure.

Disclosable pecuniary interests, personal and prejudicial interests are defined in Part 2 of the Code of Conduct for Members.

[If a member is in any doubt as to whether they have an interest which should be declared they should seek the advice of the Monitoring Officer before the start of the meeting].

There were no declarations of interest.

The Chair, Councillor Bassadone, introduced herself and the other Members of the Committee and the officers.

Councillor Bassadone invited Mr Buchanan-Barrow to speak.

Mr Buchanan-Barrow asked if anyone in the room was a Chartered Arboriculturalist.

It was confirmed that no-one in the room was a Chartered Arboriculturalist.

Tree Officer, Darren Hemmings, noted that he was not a Chartered Arboriculturalist but that he had a professional Arboriculture qualification and that he had over 10 years’ experience.

Mr Buchanan-Barrow stated that to date there had been 2 planning applications and that pruning had been completed on T1 and T2 but not to T3. He said that he had not requested for T3 to be felled but wanted a “significant reduction”, ideally by carrying out a coronet cut.

Darren Hemmings said that the application for T3 was for a heavy reduction by pollarding. He said that coronet cuts were usually used in the veteranisation of trees where it was cut with edges for wildlife to inhabit. He said that pollarding usually referred to the extent of reduction and that a coronet cut was generally more natural.

Mr Buchanan-Barrow stated that the tree leaning because of search for light was not correct. He said that the tree grows out of a steep bank and later becomes vertical. He said that inspections had been carried out above ground but that he had no information about whether the tree was healthy below ground. He said that there was a big tree in the area which had broken a bough which had fallen and broken a metal fence. He said that this would have killed someone. He said that this tree had been cut and now had buds. He raised root asphyxiation where too much water stops air getting to the roots of a tree. He said that from his research this can happen suddenly and that the tree can fail instantly. He said that the ground was hollow and saturated and that there was a gully that collects more water. He said that any leaning tree should be felled and gave the example of a tree at the end of Hudnall Lane where negotiations had taken place for it to be felled. He said that the area where T3 was is designated as a High Risk Zone 1 and that this refers to the position of a tree and the risk if it falls. He said that the tree is tagged so that the National Trust can keep an eye on it. He said that a neighbour and a tree surgeon had accepted the risk and were concerned. He said that the proposals of the National Trust were in agreement. He said that he had not seen a technical report or a risk assessment. He said that DBC used the term ‘amenity value adding to their high visibility and stature’ to describe the trees. He said that it had been agreed for 3 oak trees to be felled in Berkhamsted and that this was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.