A is for Arboriculture:
This is defined by the Arboricultural Association as being the science and practice of the cultivation, establishment and management of amenity trees for the benefit of society. The cultivation and management of individual trees in a wide range of different environments.
Arborists are tree professionals who have studied how to plant, maintain, care and diagnose trees, shrubs and other woody plants.
In a legal tree case an arborist is commonly involved in giving evidence, whether that is as a lay or expert witness. For example, in a case involving a tree failure event an arborist might comment on the cause of the tree failure and give an opinion on whether there were any signs that the tree was vulnerable prior to the failure.
An expert arborist in a subsidence case might give their opinion to the Court on whether a tree owner should have been able to foresee a risk of a tree causing subsidence damage to a property and what reasonable action should have been taken to the tree prior to the subsidence having occurred.
To all of the amazing Arborists out there who dedicate their careers to the knowledge and love of trees, thank you 🌳
B is for boundary:
Boundaries give rise to a lot of ‘law’ relating to trees and can cause a lot of debate, for example:
🌲2 or more evergreen trees on a boundary can give rise to an ASBO. Yes, you heard that correctly. Where there is an evergreen hedge on a boundary and that hedge has grown too high the High Hedges legislation allows for a remedial notice to be served on the hedge owner to compel them to reduce the height of the hedge. Failure to do this can lead to the hedge owner getting a criminal sanction of an ASBO
🌳trees growing close to a boundary are likely to cause the encroachment of roots or branches over the boundary line. This gives rise to the neighbour’s common law right to abate the nuisance being caused by the encroaching roots and branches by cutting those back to the boundary line. This common law right is nuanced and has to be exercised reasonably so as not to affect the health and stability of the tree.
⛔TPO protected trees cannot be touched without consent from the local planning authority unless they are on a boundary. Curiously where a TPO tree extends over a boundary the neighbour can exercise the common law rights mentioned above regardless of the tree protection. Again, pretty contentious and, where the sanction to prune a protected tree without consent is criminal, not many exercise this right.
💰What about trees where the boundary line isn’t clear? We have a lot of clients who want to know whether a tree is owned by them or their neighbour. Storm season can bring this into sharp focus, especially where the tree is looking precarious and some action is needed to make sure it’s safe. This gets even more interesting where the land on the other side of the boundary doesn’t appear to have an owner!
Check out how we can help with boundary trees here – Boundary Trees | Tree Law – Legal tree expert
C is for CO2:
Our climate is changing as we have too much CO2 in the atmosphere which is causing rising temperatures.
Trees are one of nature’s carbon sinks, i.e., they take carbon and lock it up in their structure, thereby removing it from the atmosphere.
The amount of CO2 sequestered (aka, locked-up) in a tree’s structure varies significantly from one type of tree to another. The OG in terms of carbon sequestration is the Oak. At maturity the Oak can sequester up to 7500kgs of CO2 in its structure.
When a tree is implicated in damage being caused it is common to hear that the carbon footprint of the repair works needed if the tree remains far exceeds the amount of the carbon to be emitted into the atmosphere if the tree is simply felled. This comment is often made with no calculation being carried out to determine if that is actually the case.
Here at Tree Law we use Tree Law’s Subsidence Calculator®️ to put some real numbers around the carbon footprint of different solutions in a claim where a tree is implicated in subsidence damage.
Here at Tree Law we are the UK’s only law firm specialising in legal claims involving trees. If you have a boundary dispute or if you’re interested in understanding the carbon value of your tree then get in touch.
