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Trees in Babergh
Summary
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Information about tree maintenance and care
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Quick links:
The Open Spaces Section of Contract and Asset Management is responsible for managing approximately 20,000 parkland, open space and amenity trees distributed across seventy-six parishes. We maintain over 155 hectares of woodland, countryside and amenity sites.
Trees bring immense benefits to our community, but being living organisms they grow and respond to their immediate environment. As such there is a continual need to check each specimen to ensure it is safe, healthy and contributing to provide a public benefit. Caring for all these trees is undertaken in two different, but complementary ways.
Tree Inspection ProgrammeRoutine maintenance requirements are constantly being identified by Babergh’s Tree Inspection Programme. Under this process each tree is regularly inspected and work recommendations produced. The work is then prioritised according to need and issued to a variety of local tree surgeons for pricing and action. Examples of Routine maintenance include crown lifting, crown thinning, pollarding, planting and re-spacing.
Emergency work to dead, dying or diseased trees is undertaken as soon as it is discovered as necessary - either as identified in the Tree Inspection Programme, or as advised by members of the public.
Problems with trees, or requests for work to trees on Babergh owned land can be reported to the Arboricultural Officer, by emailing open.spaces@babergh.gov.uk or by telephoning 01473 826654. The request will be recorded on our database and inspected as quickly as possible to decide if any surgery is needed. We do not necessarily carry out work on demand, as each tree needs to be judged on its own merits before the decision is made to carry out work or not.
What Babergh District Council can and cannot do
Before contacting us please read the following which will help clarify what we can and cannot do.
Babergh District Council will:
- Inspect a tree to assess its health and safety
- Prune/remove low branches to provide adequate clearance over roads, paths and cycle ways
- Prune branches in physical contact with buildings
- Remove damaged branches if appropriate
Trees can only be considered for removal when they are:
- Structurally unsafe or leaning dangerously
- Damaged and potentially dangerous
- Diseased
- Dead
Babergh District Council cannot:
- Prune or fell trees that block sunlight
- Prune or fell trees to improve TV/satellite reception
- Prune or fell trees to reduce or prevent seasonal occurrences such as leaf fall or sap/honeydew drip
- Prune or fell trees that overhang gardens
In legal terms the situations listed above are considered incidental to nature, and on their own are not considered sufficient justification to prune or cut down a tree.
The Open Spaces team will attempt to help residents with all enquiries relating to trees. Each enquiry will be investigated and action taken on council owned trees where appropriate. However, work has to be prioritised on health and safety grounds and available resources. There will be occasions when work to prune or fell trees cannot be justified, and others where a long delay may occur before non-priority work can be undertaken.
We also carry out tree maintenance in the gardens of some Council tenants where they are unable to do so themselves. This work is carried out on behalf of the Housing Division. Should you wish to enquire about this service, please contact Housing at housing@babergh.gov.uk or telephone 01473 825757.
A large proportion of trees growing in streets and on roadside grass verges are the responsibility of Suffolk County Council. If you have any queries relating to these trees, please contact Suffolk County Council by e mail at customerservice@csduk.com, or by telephone on 0845 606 6067.
Trees in School Grounds
Babergh is not responsible for managing trees in school grounds. If you have a problem with trees at a school it is best to contact the Head Teacher. You could also contact Suffolk County Council who are the Local Education Authority by email at customerservice@csduk.com, or by telephone on 0845 606 6067.
Babergh is not responsible for managing privately owned trees. If you own a tree that requires attention it is best to seek professional advice from a Tree Surgeon or Tree Consultant. The Arboricultural Association is the professional body representing tree experts and holds lists of approved Tree Surgeons and Consultants. You may contact them via their website (The Arboricultural Association website) or by telephone. Their telephone No. is 01794 368717.
Please remember that some trees are protected by Tree Preservation Orders or Conservation Areas. This means that unless the trees are dead or dangerous they cannot be pruned without written permission from Babergh’s Planning Control Division.
If you are unsure of the ownership of the trees that concern you or your property, for a small charge you can carry out a Land Registry Search which will tell you to whom the land is registered (if it has a registered owner).
You can contact the Land Registry by:
What should I do if I suspect a tree is causing subsidence damage?
Trees close to buildings and other built structures can increase the risk of subsidence when roots extract moisture from shrinkable clay soils beneath foundation level. If you suspect that trees (council owned or on neighbouring private land) are causing subsidence to your property then it is important that you contact your home insurance provider. Your insurance company will look into your concerns and may want to investigate the damage as part of a claim. If they believe that a council or neighbour's tree is implicated in the damage, they will contact the respective tree owners on your behalf.
Where a claim is made against a council owned tree or a tree protected by a tree preservation order the council will reasonably expect an appropriate level of evidence provided to demonstrate that the tree in question is an influencing cause in the subsidence.
As a guide this information is likely to comprise the following:
- Engineers report on assessment of damage to building.
- Plan and profile of foundations.
- Full details of all areas of damage attributed to the subsidence including location plan of building in relation to trees both on and adjacent to the property.
- Soil analysis – including proof of dessication, details of liquid and plastic limits taken from both a trial pit and control pit.
- Tree root identification from beneath foundation level.
- Monitoring results preferably for 12 months or more, including level monitoring.
- Details of any drainage report carried out for the property.
- Details of previous underpinning or relevant building works to the property.
Without this information it is unlikely that the council will be able to take an informed view on any proposed works or an appropriate solution.
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Related pages on this website ...
External links ...
The Arboricutural Association
The leading body in the UK for the tree care professional in employment at craft, technical, supervisory, managerial or consultancy level. The Arboricultural Association website
The Land Registry
Land Registry’s mission is "to provide the world’s best service for guaranteeing ownership of land and facilitating property transactions". The Land Registry website
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Last updated on: 12 March 2010 | Date of next review: 12 March 2011
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