1. After an unusual spate of TPOs in an area of interest, can you please tell me who prompted the council to act on the following TPOs:
a) 1781/2021
b) 1784/2021
c) 1788/2021
d) 1790/2021

The individual or group responsible please.

Under Section 40 exemption personal details are exempt from disclosure - this is an absolute exemption so there is no public interest test to apply. However, the following information may add light to the council’s FOI response.

As well as a general trend showing a year-on-year increase in requests for works to protected trees (TPO and Conservation Area trees) the council have experienced an unprecedented level of activity during the last year of COVID 19 Lockdown. The council believes this is due to homeowners spending far more daylight time in their homes, gardens and local areas and thus having far more time to notice, appreciate and have concerns over trees. Some members of the public are concerned for the wellbeing of the trees and their valuable public amenity, others over tree safety. Home-schooling over Lockdown has apparently added to both public appreciation and public concerns over trees. Most concerns over health and safety of trees are not supported by evidence but this has not undermined the general trend of the public showing greater concern over the borough’s trees. There is growing evidence that the public have generally taken a greater interest in planting and preserving trees during Lockdown.

Part of the common practice of officers is that they will organise their tree inspections efficiently with site visits aggregated in a local area thus cutting down travelling times, road miles, carbon emissions and for the past year minimising potential exposure to, or passing on, of Covid-19. At least one of the TPOs, 1781/2021, was likely led by an earlier planning application and appeal where the Inspector described the appeal site (part of the overall area covered by the new TPO) as being ‘an important component of the rural open space between northern and southern arms of the village. It serves a purpose in retaining the rural character along Lodge Road’.