1,000 trees to be protected in Aldwick

Arun District Council is involved in ensuring 1,000-plus trees in the Aldwick are kept for posterity.

The large number of species such as English oak, planes, poplars and pines will be covered by tree preservation orders.

They are sited on public land such as West Park and in private gardens. But they are all believed to contribute to the leafy feel which defines Aldwick.

Gill Brown, Arun's leader, said: "Trees are an extremely important part of Aldwick. There are massively more trees here than anywhere else in the district. In fact, Aldwick has 80 per cent of the trees in the entire district."

The tree preservation work was begun by Arun to clear up confusion. Probably several hundred trees are covered by a tree preservation order which was issued in 1958 and covered all the trees then standing.

But the passing decades have made it difficult to determine which trees are covered by the legal protection against the ever-present threat of development and which have since been planted.

The district council decided to make a fresh start last May and identify suitable trees which deserved to be kept began.

This resulted in the four figure total to be covered by the orders, either individually or in small clusters.

"Each one has to be looked at and each one has to be plotted," Mrs Brown said.

"Some of them are trees which were planted before the tree preservation order in 1958 was issued.

"But some of the ones which have been identified were planted later than that. However, because we think they make such a big contribution, they will also be in the new preservation order.

"Some of the trees are in clumps which will be covered by one order but there are still going to be more than 800 separate preservation orders."

Each tree will be served with its order once it has been plotted on the map. The plotting is expected to take another three months.

It is then expected to take several more months to serve the orders because of the scale of the work.

The work is being led by Arun's tree and landscape manager, Joe Russell-Wells. He said: "Trees are very much the character of Aldwick. They are very important to the area."

He leads a team of five people involved on the project. They include University of Chichester law graduate Ed O'Brien.

Another part of the work is to streamline the steps needed to ensure a tree which warrants protection receives it as soon as possible.

Arun's planning solicitor, Delwyn Jones, is examining how that could be done.

It is also Arun's intention to make it easier for the public to find out which trees are protected.

The large role which trees play in the planning process in Aldwick is shown by the latest list of planning applications from Arun.

Two of the parish's five new applications concerns reducing the height of two oaks. Similiarly, there are seven proposals about trees which have been decided by the council's planning officers.