A developer was taken to court and ordered to pay thousands of pounds for damaging a protected tree during building works in Kingswood. South Gloucestershire Council said the sycamore tree eventually had to be removed after a trench was dug and the roots were cut.
Andrew Cake, owner of Acton Homes Ltd based in Woodlands Lane, Bradley Stoke, pleaded guilty to damaging a tree under a tree preservation order (TPO) when he appeared at Bristol Magistrates' Court on Monday (February 20). The 61-year-old was ordered to pay a fine of £5,600, along with £1,423 in costs, and a £2,000 victim surcharge, making a total of £9,023.
The court heard that on July 20 last year, the council’s arboriculture team became aware of a report relating to a planning application at Spring Hill in Kingswood for an attached house and associated work. The report referenced the digging of a trench and the roots of a protected sycamore tree being cut.
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An officer from the council’s planning enforcement team visited the next day and took photographs that showed the trench and damage to the Sycamore tree’s roots, the council said. The officer is said to have advised Cake, the foreman for the building site and owner of Acton Homes Ltd which was carrying out the development, that no further work should take place until an inspection had been completed.
A council statement added: "On July 25 officers from the arboriculture team attended the site and met with Cake, before following out an inspection in his company. It was observed that the trench had been filled in and the tree roots evident in the earlier photographs had been removed, contrary to the planning enforcement advice.
"In addition, Heras fencing had been placed around the protected tree which was not present in the photographs taken only four days before. The officers instructed Cake to seek independent professional arboricultural advice regarding the structural integrity of the tree, and he was provided with a standard list of arboricultural consultants."
On September 6 officers received an email from Acton Homes Ltd which contained the arboricultural report and acknowledgement of responsibility for damage to the tree, the council said. The report concluded that the majority of the roots had been severed or seriously damaged and their loss would have compromised the structural integrity of the tree, leaving it potentially vulnerable to wind and uprooting.
It finished by saying that the root severance had compromised the structural stability of the tree leaving it in a dangerous unstable condition and therefore recommended that the tree be removed and replacement planting undertaken. Two weeks later the council said it received another email from Acton Homes Ltd seeking permission for a five-day notice for the removal of the damaged Sycamore.
The authority said that "at no time since the consent was provided has Acton Homes Ltd been in contact to confirm the replacement of the sycamore tree". In November, the council's arboriculture and environmental enforcement teams interviewed Cake, where he presented a prepared statement relating to his involvement with an admission of fault in damaging the tree and an offer to correct the situation. He was then advised he would be receiving a summons to court.
Councillor Rachael Hunt, cabinet member responsible for environmental enforcement at South Gloucestershire Council, said: “It’s important that we act to help protect trees covered by preservation orders so we are pleased at this outcome. Ignoring the law is unacceptable and it can take decades for replacement trees to grow in their place.
“This case was brought by our arboriculture and enforcement teams working together and shows our commitment to protecting our local environment. I hope this serves as a deterrent to anyone who considers acting illegally in South Gloucestershire.
“Anyone who is thinking of having work completed to trees, be it felling, lopping or any other kind of work must first check with the council’s arboriculture officers to ensure the tree is not subject to a preservation order.”
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