Minutes - 19 May 2008

BABERGH DISTRICT COUNCIL LICENSING AND APPEALS COMMITTEE

MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE LICENSING AND APPEALS (TREES) COMMITTEE HELD IN THE STEVENSON CENTRE, GREAT CORNARD ON MONDAY, 19 MAY 2008

PRESENT:                         Mr B L Lazenby - Chairman 

2.    Declaration of Interests
3.    Questions from Members
4.    Tree Preseration Order No. BT406 - Land to the North of Sudbury

1    The Chairman stated that a letter from Chilton Parish Council making representations had been received on the day of the meeting.  With the agreement of the objector a copy of the letter was circulated to Members of the Committee prior to the commencement of the meeting and was subsequently numbered as Paper H38.  He referred to the Council’s ‘Procedure for Hearing and Determining Objections to Tree Preservation Orders’ which provides that ‘Exceptionally, verbal representations may be heard where the Chairman is satisfied in the given circumstances that written objections or representations could not reasonably have been expected’.  He was satisfied that a verbal response to the representations contained in Paper H38 should be heard and at the Chairman’s invitation, Peter Wilderspin on behalf of Suffolk County Council confirmed that it was acceptable to the objector for the representations to be heard and for a representative of the objector to respond verbally.  The Chairman then invited Mr S Hayden to make verbal representations on behalf of Suffolk County Council.  Mr Hayden commented on specific matters raised in the letter.

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2          DECLARATION OF INTERESTS

None declared.

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3          QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERS         

            None received.

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4          TREE PRESERVATION ORDER NO. BT406 – LAND TO THE NORTH OF SUDBURY

Prior to the meeting of the Committee, Members met to view from various locations the woodlands covered by Tree Preservation Order No. BT406 to which Suffolk County Council had submitted an objection (W1, W2, W7). 

In addition to the Members of the Committee, the following were present for the site visit:-

Mr D Pizzey (Arboricultural Officer)

Mrs C Thurlow (Development Control Manager)

Mrs K Saward (Solicitor to the Council)

Mrs L Sheppard (Senior Democratic Services Officer)

Mr P Wilderspin (Suffolk County Council – objector)

Mr S Hayden (Hayden’s Arboricultural Consultants)

Following the visit the Committee met to consider the objection to Tree Preservation Order No BT 406.

Members had before them the following papers:-

Report by the Head of Contract and Asset Management (Paper H30), and Appendices 

(a)    Copy of Tree Preservation Order No. BT406.

(b)    Copy of objection letter and e-mail from Suffolk County Council dated 18 February 2008.

(c)    Copy of assessment of BT406 carried out by Stephen Hayden of Hayden Arboricultural Consultants together with copies of photographs taken on site and location key.

The Council’s ‘Procedure for Hearing and Determining Objections to Tree Preservation Orders’ (circulated with the Agenda).

Copy of letter from Suffolk County Council and current Masterplan for the Chilton Woods Development which were received after the dispatch of the agenda for the meeting, and which were emailed to the Members of the Committee prior to the day of the meeting.

Note – as a point of clarification, the Council’s Development Control Manager advised Members that the status of the document referred to as the ‘Masterplan’ could only be regarded as informative as no planning application (including the Masterplan) had yet been submitted and determined.

Members agreed with the views of the Head of Contract and Asset Management set out in paragraphs 5.1 to 5.8, and 5.10 of Paper H30, and considered that it would be expedient in the interests of amenity to protect the woodlands in question, particularly in view of the absence of any detailed planning applications relating to development of the areas in question. 

Members accepted the view expressed in paragraph 6 of Paper H30 that the need to protect the tree(s) outweighed any rights pursuant to Protocol 1, Article 1 and Article 8 of the Human Rights Act 1998. 

RESOLVED

That Tree Preservation Order No. BT406 be confirmed without modification. 

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The business of the meeting was concluded at 10.20 a.m.

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                                                                                                                        Chairman