Potential destruction of traditional orchard - who do I inform?

Charliezoo

Hi all,

My house backs on to a beautiful old orchard and unfortunately the owners have put in plans to flatten this and replace it with a block of flats and 14 densely packed houses.

As a resident I am obviously dead against the development as a whole but I am also very concerned that a traditional orchard and the abundant wildlife that live among it could be flattened to make way for modern housing. I have expressed my views and objection to the council planning dept but I wondered if there were any societies/groups etc who have an interest in protecting orchards and wildlife who might be interested to know about the potential redevelopment?

Many thanks

zeupater

Hi

Have you checked with you local authority whether there are any TPOs on the trees ?? .... possibly an objection on the grounds of loss of amenity ?? .... you could talk to organisations such as the wildlife trust - if they're not interested they will likely have links to others who may be ...

HTH
Z

bjohnson

CPRE would probably be interested but unfortunately you don't say where you are

grahamc2003

These days big companies like to appear very environmentally aware and may take up your cause - perhaps someone at Apple may be interested.

Charliezoo

Sorry I'm in Hertfordshire, in a village close to Watford.

6 of the trees due to be removed have Cat C TPOs and 4 have Cat B. Apparently they can still remove the trees with permission as long as they're replaced. Sadly many of the trees are huge stunning apple trees that I would say are irreplaceable.

Thanks for the advice so far, I'll start looking into some of the contacts.

zeupater

Charliezoo wrote: »

Sorry I'm in Hertfordshire, in a village close to Watford.

6 of the trees due to be removed have Cat C TPOs and 4 have Cat B. Apparently they can still remove the trees with permission as long as they're replaced. Sadly many of the trees are huge stunning apple trees that I would say are irreplaceable.

Thanks for the advice so far, I'll start looking into some of the contacts.

Hi

Are the TPOs based on the type of apple ?? ... do you know what variety they are ?? .... as the fruit should be pretty well formed at the moment it could be a good idea to get them identified and see if they are a particularly rare variety, it would be a shame to see more varieties disappear .... if they are rare it should be pretty easy to get someone to approach the LA regarding the TPOs ... You'll usually find that one of the local National Trust properties runs an apple event at this time of year so they'll probably be able to put you in touch with someone who could help ID the fruit ....

HTH
Z

Gigervamp

This site might be useful: Orchard Network. Good luck!