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AGENDA ITEM:

/ 22
TO: / PLANNING COMMITTEE
DATE: / 22 February 2006
REPORT OF: / HEAD OF BUILDING AND DEVELOPMENT SERVICES
AUTHOR: / Mark Harbottle
WARD: / Reigate Central
SUBJECT: / YEW HEDGE IN THE SUNKEN GARDEN, PRIORY PARK, REIGATE
PURPOSE OF REPORT: / To advise members of legislative controls relating to removal of the yew hedge at Priory Park
RECOMMENDATION: / To convey an informative to the applicant in respect of application P/05/02706/LBC

Background

1.  At the meeting of 25 January 2006 the Committee resolved that listed building consent should be granted for alterations to listed buildings forming part of the proposed restoration of the C19th sunken garden (05/02706/LBC). Because of the Borough Council’s landowning interest, the application was referred to the Government office for the South East.

2.  Prior to this decision it was confirmed that the removal of the yew hedge surrounding the sunken garden did not come within the scope of works requiring listed building consent and was not development in its own right. Members asked whether the removal would be subject to any other controls under the planning acts, specifically the requirement for Conservation Area Notification or a Hedgerow Removal Notice.

Conservation Area Notification

  1. The requirement to give six weeks notice of proposed removal of trees within Conservation Areas is to allow the Local Planning Authority to consider the desirability of making a Tree Preservation Order (TPO).

4.  Circular 36/78 “Trees and Forestry” and the subsequent Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions publication “Tree Preservation Orders: A Guide to the Law and Good Practice” (2000) advise that Tree Preservation Orders cannot apply to hedges as such.

5.  Whilst TPOs may apply to trees that grow within hedges, the Town and Country Planning (Trees) Regulations 1999 confirm that they cannot be used to prevent felling a tree whose diameter does not exceed 75 mm (including bark) at a point 1.5 metre above the ground. This would exclude the yews within the hedge even if they were considered to be trees.

6.  Accordingly, this control does not apply.

Hedgerow Removal Notice

7.  The Hedgerow Regulations 1997 apply to hedgerows growing in, or adjacent to, any common land, protected land, or land used for agriculture, forestry or the breeding or keeping of horses, ponies or donkeys. Protected land refers to land managed as a nature reserve or land designated under s.28 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act.

8.  These conditions do not apply in Priory Park and therefore this control does not apply.

9.  As indicated above, the application was referred to the Government Office for the South East. Notice has now been received that the Secretary of State has granted listed building consent. In accordance with the Committee’s wishes, it is intended to separately convey the following informative.

RECOMMENDATION

The following informative is conveyed to the applicant, to be read alongside the Secretary of State’s decision on application 05/02706/LBC:

The Planning Committee strongly recommends the applicant to reconsider the removal of the yew hedge around the sunken garden, in the interests of retaining the historic 19th century formal garden character.