WARRINGTON Borough Council is taking steps to improve its online system for Tree Preservation Orders after a Lymm resident, bidding to protect a 140-year-old Oak Tree, identified issues.
Lymm resident Jack Levy is attempting to put a Tree Preservation Order (TPO) on an oak tree near his home which he estimates to be around 140 years old.
As the tree is in Lymm, he believes it is located in an area at risk of development.
He said: “Now in order to get a TPO you have to apply to the Council and so I go to this page – https://www.warrington.gov.uk/trees-and-tpos – thinking ‘surely this is where I’ll find a form to fill in (there’s always one of those) to apply for a TPO. But no. There is no information whatsoever on this page about applying for a TPO, instead the entire page and every link on it is dedicated to advising people how to go about cutting down trees with TPOs on them. The page’s purpose it purely for developers, not for residents who care about trees. I have now tried in vain for weeks to contact the Council’s Tree Officer to ask him to send me an application form that I can fill in so that I might help save the old tree in question. Obviously I’ve not had any response. The result is that Lymm residents are utterly unable to protect the historic trees around them from developers, and the people who are supposed to help us (the Council) are nowhere to be seen.
“We know that WBC are in favour of mass development in Lymm and therefore it may not be paranoid of me to assume that the reason the Council is refusing to engage with TPOs and avoiding helping new TPOs be applied for, is because they actually want to see these trees removed. We know they have form in this regard after the felled the oak trees on Higher Lane.”
Mr Levy approached Warrington Worldwide with his frustrations and the issue was raised directly with the council.
A Warrington Borough Council spokesperson responded: “We would like to thank the resident for their feedback on our website. It is important to us that we continually improve our online services and make them as clear and easy to use as possible. In this case, we recognise that both the wording and process could be clearer, and we are taking steps to address this.
“We carefully consider all requests to protect trees, particularly where they have significant public amenity value and may be at risk. Each request is assessed on its individual merits, in line with national guidance.
“We encourage anyone wishing to put forward a tree for protection to submit details via the online reporting function. This information is available on our trees and TPO’s webpage.
“Requests should include the tree’s location and the reasons it is considered worthy of a tree protection order, so that it can be assessed by a qualified tree officer.”
Jack Levy and the Oak Tree
