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Tree Inspection Programme
Reporting a Tree Problem
What Babergh District Council Can and Cannot Do
Prioritisation
Council Tenants
Highway Trees
Trees in School Grounds
Privately Owned Trees
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 Programme
Routine 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.
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Problems with trees, or requests for work to trees on Babergh owned land can be reported to the Arboricultural Officer, by e mailing trees@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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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 0844 800 0101.
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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 0844 800 0101.
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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 http://www.trees.org.uk/ 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.
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