The legal situation
If you fell a tree, or trees, you have responsibilities under planning law, and The Forestry Act. The Whitelands Project will, in every consultancy commission, move our clients to work not just within the legal framework, but also to aspire to Best Practice. For example, in prosecutions under the Forestry Act, we have challenged and negotiated measurements undertaken by the prosecuting authority.
Illegal fellings are as defined under the Forestry Act 1967, and by definition cannot occur in gardens, orchards, Churchyards or Public Open Space. Prosecution is carried out by a fine imposed on an assessment of volume felled over the allowable limit of 5m3 per quarter. Tree Preservation Orders should be looked upon as filling in the deliberate gaps left by the Forestry Act, and are imposed under section 60 of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1971, the fines being set by statute.
Conservation Area Status is imposed under the Town and Country Planning Act, 1990, amended by Town and Country Planning General Development Orders. It has similar protection to a TPO, but is applied over larger areas, and also carries statutory fines.
For The Whitelands Project, work of this nature comes from the Legal Profession, by association, and by personal recommendation. The prosecuting bodies have their own witnesses, so one tends to be approached by the plaintiff.
