Agenda item

Report of Jon Clubb, Head of Parks and Grounds and Helen Arnold, Tree and Woodland Manager to provide a progress update on the development of North Yorkshire Council’s first Tree and Woodlands policy.

Key points outlined in the report included:

·       A new Tree and Woodland team was created within the Parks and Grounds service as part of the new North Yorkshire Council because of restructuring the previous legacy authorities’ teams. This has created an integrated and coherent team that works across the disciplines of arboriculture, tree surveying, tree operations, and woodland creation.

·       Four of the previous legacy authorities had developed individual approaches to tree and woodland management, prior to local government reorganisation. These documents remain in place in the interim, however as the new unitary authority, North Yorkshire Council has a unique opportunity to combine this knowledge and experience to develop a robust policy framework for the county.

·       Trees form a significant element of our urban and rural areas. They make an important contribution to the natural beauty, culture, and heritage of our landscapes, whilst providing a range of ecosystem services such as habitats for wildlife, pollution control, flood risk alleviation and mitigation from the impacts of climate change.

·       North Yorkshire Council has a legal duty and powers to manage the risk and to protect trees on the land that we manage (such as in open spaces, the highway and across property assets) and within the private realm. This should be reasonable and proportionate, to balance the many benefits that trees and woodlands bring. Therefore, developing a county wide approach to policy is crucial to this undertaking and provides all stakeholders with clarity on how this will be managed.

·       Themes of the new policy will include sections such as risks from trees, methodology to inspect trees, operational works and what will and won’t be undertaken and the legislative tools at our disposal.

·       As the policy is built up, engagement and consultation will be very important. Trees are right across the county and estates and many different council services will have some interaction with trees, such as: Children and Young People Service, Planning, Highways, Housing, Bereavement, Countryside Access, Environment and Climate Change, and Insurance and Risk.

·       The Tree and Woodland team has been broken down into four separate areas:

o   Protected trees – planning consultations, TPOs, conservation areas and high hedges.

o   Tree asset management – tree surveying and inspection with a focus on benefits and risks

o   Tree operations – mixture of in-house tree surgeon teams in the East and the West, together with external contractors

o   Tree and woodland creation – initiatives such as the Woodland Creation Accelerator Fund and the White Rose Forest partnership

·       The new policy will act as the rule book for all interested parties and to manage expectations while protecting the tree asset. It will act as an essential go-to reference for local stakeholders and landowners, as well as guide the council in managing vast numbers of trees and using resources effectively.

·       Officers will be using the Tree and Woodland Strategy Toolkit from the Tree Council as a key document to refer to in developing the new strategy, along with reviewing and benchmarking against other similar sized local authorities, with Durham City Council, Oxford County Council and Norfolk County Council to be reviewed initially.

·       The policy applies to how we manage trees under our ownership or within our responsibility, trees in private ownership that pose a risk to public safety and also private land where duties apply. After the policy is in place, tree inspection procedures and tree planting guidance notes will follow.

·       The full draft strategy is planned to come to a future meeting of this committee for consideration and feedback.

Following this, key points raised in the discussion were:

·       Committee members were very supportive of the development of an exciting new policy in this important area.

·       The benefits to mental health and wellbeing from trees and woodland, and how trees can help with other environmental issues such as surface water run off to help local communities.

·       Community engagement will be key to whether the new team succeeds. It is planned to use exemplar projects such as ‘Birmingham TreePeople’ to adopt similar schemes in areas of North Yorkshire.

·       Link in with public health teams, as an example around how shade from trees can reduce UV exposure, provide shelter and prolong the lifespan of tarmac surfaces by mitigating heat exposure.

·       In order to submit successful grant fund applications in the future, it was important for the team to be ready for these to maximise these as much as possible.

·       Potential economic benefits to the council around slowing the flow, natural capital approach and biodiversity net gain.

·       The tree protection team will be solely focussed on the statutory protection of trees, where they are necessary.

·       The need for education of landowners around tree matters, with the new centralised specialist team better placed to advise on these requests or to improve the knowledge and understanding of others.

·       If was asked if the policy could take reference to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as part of the new policy.

Resolved

i)               That the report and appendix be noted

ii)              That a full draft of the policy is submitted to a future meeting of TEEE O&S Committee for comment.