§ Mr. BurgonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions when he expects to bring forward new regulations on tree preservation orders; and if he will make a statement. [90924]
§ Mr. MeacherThe Town and Country Planning (Trees) Regulations have been laid in both Houses today, and are due to come into force on 2 August. The Regulations will replace all existing secondary legislation in England and Wales on the subject of tree preservation orders.
A consultation paper setting out our proposals for these Regulations was issued in July last year. A summary of responses to the consultation paper, 204 in all, has been placed in the House Library.
A large majority of respondents broadly supported our proposals, so we have modelled the new Regulations closely on the provisions in the consultation paper.
We have made some revisions, however, in response to detailed points made in consultation. Local authorities were concerned that our proposals on compensation would lead to an unwelcome increase in petty claims for minor loss or damage caused by protected trees, so we have taken steps to rule out such claims by setting a lower limit of £500. In response to a general call for tree preservation orders to be circulated more widely, local authorities will be required to copy each new order to the people whose property adjoins the land on which the protected trees stand. In response to concerns that our proposal to exempt the pruning of fruit trees was open-ended, we have included new provisions making 595W clear that such pruning must be carried out in accordance with good horticultural practice. Our proposals for speeding up appeals to the Secretary of State, which are made against a local authority's refusal of consent to do work on protected trees and handled without an inquiry or hearing, have also been revised to bring them into line with forthcoming reforms of planning appeals.