Harrogate Borough Council
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Council Managed Trees
What is the Council responsible for?
| The Council's Arboricultural team are responsible for managing trees on their land within a 500 square mile district boundary. |  |
- Highways (Harrogate and Knaresborough only)
- Parks and Open Space
- Cemeteries
- Council Housing Sites
- Woodlands
The Arboricultural Team consists of three office based staff and three grounds based staff. The grounds based staff carry out the tree related works that result form the tree survey as well as any emergency works that are required at any time of the year.
The Tree Survey
| The Arboricultural Surveyor's role is to inspect each Council tree within the district boundaries on a five-year rolling programme. As it is currently estimated that there are approximately 20-30,000 trees to be surveyed (excluding woodland trees), these timeframes will help to ensure that each tree receives a ground based visual assessment at least once every five years. Any work resulting from that inspection is then placed onto the tree work schedule and undertaken in due course by the grounds based staff, dependent upon its attached level of priority. |  |
The tree survey is predominantly a health and safety survey, identifying observable and foreseeable risks and hazards associated with trees in the urban landscape. There are a number of things the Arboricultural Surveyor looks for when undertaking the survey:
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TREEWISE - The Council's Computerised Tree Management System
All trees that are surveyed are tagged (a disc attached to the tree with a number attached to it) and placed onto the TreeWise system. All data recorded on each tree is stored on this system, which is available upon request to members of the general public. It is envisaged that this will result in more economically viable and more efficient response times to enquiries relating to Council trees.
Some of the data stored on TreeWise system:
- Tree species
- Tree dimensions (height, canopy width, stem diameter)
- Date of last and next inspection
- Recommendations for any works
- Priority of works (Urgent, High, Medium, Low or None)
- Date by which works are to be undertaken
Common Law and Trees and Nuisances Issues
| Under common law, landowners can prune back overhanging vegetation from adjoining land to their boundary line only. However, before pruning back any vegetation emanating from adjoining properties or from Council land, please consider the following: |  |
- Are the trees subject to a Tree Preservation Order
(TPO) or contained within a Conservation Area? If they are,
then you will need prior consent from the Local Planning Authority
before undertaking the work
- Have you discussed the issue with the relevant landowner?
This may result in them undertaking the work in the first instance,
although it is worth noting that they are not obligated to do
so
- Will pruning the tree back to the boundary line result in
a detrimental effect on future tree health or result in an
unsightly highly visible tree within the local landscape? It may be
worth seeking the advice from a qualified Arborist prior to
undertaking the work as the tree owner may be in a position to
pursue a claim if the tree dies as a result of the work
- Will the tree work impact upon local ecology?
For the most part, the Council will not prune back trees or branches that overhang adjoining boundary lines as this type of work may not only be detrimental to the tree's health, but would also pull our team off health and safety work. For the most part, the Council will not remove healthy trees from the environment unless this is in line with good woodland management practices, dictated by the Highways Act or as part of a development where other trees are normally conditioned for replacement.
We will not normally remove trees for issues of leaf fall, fruit fall, sap/honeydew, TV reception issues, loss of a view or light loss. These are considered minor inconveniences that are normally offset by the many other benefits that are attached to having trees in the urban environment. That said, with regards to light loss, we adopt a common sense approach and manage the tree accordingly.