Please confirm the number, size and species of trees felled, (and reason for removal) or subject to a canopy reduction in excess of 25% by area of trees on Devon County Council land within Exeter City between January 2021 and April 2022.
The total number of trees felled between 1st January 2021 and 31st March 2022 is 316.
The total number of trees that have had some form of crown reduction (this includes a crown-lift) is 104.
A majority of the trees included in these figures will not be on land that is owned by Devon County Council land, but will instead be on land that is considered to be Highway Maintainable at the Public Expense (HMPE). Devon County Council do not necessarily own the land where there is HMPE.
To obtain size and species information for all trees, would require manual checking of each record. Given the number of records referred to above, this would take an excessive amount of time and it would be manifestly unreasonable to review these records to extract this information. Whilst we acknowledge the need for transparency it is not in the public interest to make an excessive use of council resources. We are therefore not obliged to provide this information pursuant to Part 12 (4) of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004
Please also confirm the number, size and species of all new trees planted on Devon County Council land within Exeter City between January 2021 and April 2022.
Information relating to tree planting undertaken directly or supported by Devon County Council is made available via our web site : Trees, hedges and woodland – Environment (devon.gov.uk)
Specifically the information can be obtained from Table 2 on the website for planting undertaken directly by the County Council on its own land. However, given the severe constraints of County Council land availability / suitability, you will see that most of the tree planting supported the authority is undertaken on land owned by others, as shown by Table 1