Contents
Annex 6
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1. Introduction
1.1 Trees
Trees are some of the biggest plants and the longest living species on the planet. Aside from their physical presence and the impact they have on our landscape, trees provide the following ecosystem services:
- They improve air quality by removing pollutants,
- They sequester and store carbon,
- They reduce flooding and surface water runoff and protect soil from erosion,
- They provide shade and regulate temperature in hot weather,
- They promote biodiversity by harbouring plants and wildlife, and
- They improve the aesthetic quality and provide less tangible benefits to health and wellbeing.
Some sources claim that trees can also reduce crime rates, enhance property values and reduce energy costs. Many of the benefits that trees offer increase with age, so it is important that they are looked after and reach maturity.
The Council works closely with central government, other organisations and neighbouring authorities on strategies and initiatives for the management of trees. The Council has a Tree Board that meets quarterly and provides governance to the management of trees in Devon. It oversees the activities around trees that affect the Council’s Highways and Premises.
1.2 Soft Landscape
Road verges are often overlooked and undervalued. They are sanctuaries for wildflowers, pollinating insects, reptiles, amphibians and small mammals. They also provide essential green corridors which these species use to disperse. Furthermore, for many people, wildflowers on our roadside verges contribute greatly to their feeling of wellbeing. Some verges have been designated as Special Verges due to their exceptional wildlife value or their value to communities.
Roadside hedges in Devon are a unique part of the landscape. Evolved over many years for agriculture, they are now valued for their ecological, historical and amenity importance. As well as providing a dense wildlife habitat, hedges can prevent problems such as soil erosion.
Appropriate management of our roadside verges and hedges is essential. Without careful management, wildflowers on our road verges can be lost through too frequent cutting, or outcompeted by brambles, scrub and vigorous coarse grasses.
2. Inventory
2.1 Trees
The Council uses tree data from aerial imagery and remote sensing technology (Light Detection and Ranging or LiDAR) to create a tree inventory which is available on the Integrated Highways Management System (IHMS). Data has been collected on all trees over 3m in height within 20m of the Highway Maintainable at Public Expense (HMPE), and this has been processed to identify those trees that either overhang or are within falling distance of the HMPE. A screenshot from the IHMS showing a small sample of the highway tree dataset can be seen in Figure 6.1.
Fig. 6.1: Screenshot showing a sample of the Highway Tree Inventory
The Council defines a tree as having a diameter of 180mm or more at a height of 1.3m or more above ground level. Trees that are within falling distance of the highway are collectively termed ‘Highway Trees’. Any tree between the highway limits (i.e. on HMPE) is considered to be a highway tree maintainable at public expense. Highway trees beyond the highway limits are private highway trees and are considered to be maintained by private landowners or the land occupier. This includes trees within hedges or hedge banks.
The Council is primarily responsible for highway trees maintainable at public expense and for ensuring that they present a tolerable risk to highway users and adjoining land users by becoming unstable, causing an obstruction, creating encroachment issues (e.g. trees growing too close to private property, roots causing damage to private property, or creating visibility issues). Some of the highway trees maintainable at public expense are street trees, which are trees on urban roads. These potentially present a higher target value because of their immediate proximity to pedestrians, parked vehicles and slower moving and or queuing traffic.
The landowner has a primary common law duty to take reasonable care of, and to ensure the safety of, all trees upon that private land. As a Highway Authority, the Council is specifically concerned with those private trees (private highway trees) that are within falling distance of the highway. Where the Council becomes aware of private highway trees, hedges or shrubs which are not safe, Section 154 of the Highways Act empowers the Council to deal, by notice, with any hedge, tree- or shrub growing on adjacent land which overhangs the highway and to recover costs.
2.2 Soft Landscape
There are approximately 2,000 hectares of roadside verge in Devon that are maintained by the Council. This excludes those verges which are owned and managed by National Highways (i.e. those on the M5, A30, A303, A35, and A38 trunk road).
Included within this area of maintained roadside verge in Devon are 126 Special Verges totalling approximately 39 hectares, each having its own specific survey and management requirements. All Special Verges have been designated by the Council because of their exceptional wildlife value and or their value to communities. The location of special verges can be found at Devon County Council’s environmental viewer, under the Ecology/Geology tab. Survey and management information is available from nature@devon.gov.uk.
In addition, the Council also owns and maintains approximately 177 km of hedgerows across the county, as well as screen planting and formal planting such as on roundabouts.
3. Performance
3.1 Trees
The Council manages highway trees in accordance with its Tree Safety Management Policy and Procedures which describes the Council’s responsibilities and approach to tree safety management.
Underpinning the Tree Safety Management Policy and Procedures is the risk-based Highways Tree Safety Management Procedure, which sets out how highway trees are managed by inspecting for safety defects and responding accordingly. More information on the inspection process can be found on the Council’s webpages here. Comprising our busiest and fastest roads, the maintenance category 3-5 network (typically our ‘A’ and ‘B’ roads) is routinely inspected by qualified Tree Inspectors, and receives scheduled checks undertaken during Highway Safety Inspections. This represents approximately 13% of the overall road network. Inspection of trees on the other 87% of the road network, which are the maintenance category 6-11 roads (i.e. minor roads), relies on scheduled checks carried out during Highway Safety Inspections (HSIs), in accordance with the Highway Safety Policy. The public, and Highways staff, can also report on trees on all roads. These reports may result in the Council arranging an ad hoc check or expert ad hoc inspection, if necessary.
The Highways Tree Safety Management Procedure is managed by a dedicated Tree Safety Management team in the Council’s Highway Services Team, who use specialist software to commission and oversee contractors appointed under the Council’s Tree Management Framework contract to carry out inspections and surgery.
Reports are generated of the number of records from expert scheduled inspections and HSIs which gives an indication of the condition of trees in terms of safety defects reported. There is an ambition to provide a link in this Annex to an annual summary showing a comparison of the reports raised with previous years when it is available.
Moving forward, the Council intends to develop its understanding of the tree stock by evolving its inventory. For instance, the following opportunities are being considered:
- Capturing data on species, age and condition,
- Assessing the value of ecosystem services provided by highway trees (in terms of kg and £) with regard to carbon storage, carbon sequestration and pollution absorption,
- Identification of trees on maintenance category 6-12 roads for inclusion on the expert scheduled inspection route, and
- Identification of our veteran trees and community trees so they can be protected and cared for.
Fig. 6.2: Case Study – Ancient Tree Restoration ‘The Flitton Oak’
3.2 Soft Landscape
Routine inspections are not undertaken on the Soft Landscape, so there is limited information on its current condition or performance in terms of biodiversity.
The Council is working with Exeter University on a project to understand the value of our Soft Landscape.
The Council’s Grass Cutting Policy & Procedure describes the policy for achieving the specified objectives, which are:
- To maintain visibility areas / splays for highway users,
- To provide forward visibility to signs, and
- Community self-help to address local issues over and above the level of service will be encouraged.
In addition to the objectives stated in the Policy, there is an obligation to sustain essential landscape and ecological mitigation measures that have been secured on the Council’s capital schemes through planning conditions and associated legal agreements. From November 2023, it will also be a mandatory requirement to have a 30-year commitment to sustain habitats/vegetation types created to deliver Biodiversity Net Gain.
Records are kept of reports from customers that are received of overgrown vegetation. They are maintained on a platform that allows the data to be visualised and interrogated to identify hotspots and trends. An image from the system showing reports of Overgrown Vegetation between 02 Apr 2021 and 31 Mar 2022 can be seen in Figure 6.3 below.
Fig. 6.3: Visualisation of Customer Reports
4. Maintenance Strategy
4.1 Creation of a new asset
Trees
Trees are added to the Highway Asset in several ways. These include:
- Planting as part of highway schemes with capital funding,
- Planting as part of development works (under both sections 38 and 278 of the Highways Acts 1980),
- Planting from Councillor’s budgets,
- Acquisition of land containing existing trees for highway schemes, and
- Planting by the Council on land in its ownership sometimes with external grant funding, e.g. Tree Emergency Fund from the Wildlife Trust.
The Council is developing a Policy for the Replacement of Highway Trees. This will provide a framework and guidance for ensuring the species and location are carefully chosen to suit the local area, so that we get the right trees (i.e. type and quality is more important than overall number) and they do not become a problem to maintain.
The Council’s Tree Officer is consulted by the Engineering Design Group (EDG) on planting proposals for highway schemes with capital funding and by Development Control during planning applications for development projects.
Soft Landscape
Soft landscape is added to the Highway Asset in two main ways. These are:
- As part of highway schemes with capital funding, and
- As part of development works (under both sections 38 and 278 of the Highways Acts 1980).
The Council’s Ecologist, Landscape Officer, Highways and Public Rights of Way teams are consulted by the Council’s Engineering Design Group (EDG) on planting proposals for highway schemes with capital funding and by Development Management during planning applications for development projects. Landscape and Ecological Management Plans are normally required to be submitted and agreed as a planning condition for such schemes. This includes vegetation management of sustainable drainage features such as attenuation basins and pond margins. These also require ongoing management, to allow maintenance access and sustain their biodiversity and amenity value.
Where schemes do not require planning permission, an internal Environmental Audit is carried out which considers the issues above.
4.2 Routine maintenance
Trees
The cyclical maintenance of trees is limited to cutting back from visibility splays to signs and junctions, on bends, and around street lighting to prevent defects that may create a danger or serious inconvenience to highway users (as defined by the Highway Safety Policy).
Other tree maintenance is reactive, undertaken to reduce risks identified during scheduled or ad hoc checks and inspections or reports from other sources. Action is taken to protect the highway or where there is a safety risk to properties neighbouring the highway. Powers exist under the Highways Act which enable the Council to take action on privately owned trees overhanging the highway where necessary.
The Council is exploring ways in which the cyclical maintenance of highway trees, including street trees, could be improved. This would allow works to be planned and undertaken at optimal times and may reduce or prevent problems from occurring that require costly and time-consuming reactive works to address. Potential options being considered include:
- Tree Warden schemes to take ownership of trees and carry out certain tasks including watering, and
- Communication with members of the public to increase general awareness of the value of trees and responsibilities.
Soft Landscape
The Grass Cutting Policy and Procedure identifies the frequency for grass cutting on rural and urban roads. The Neighbourhood Office is authorised to determine the timing of cutting and whether the maximum number of cuts is necessary. Any proposals of this nature must be co-ordinated through the Cyclical Performance Improvement Team (PIT)
Grass cutting above the maximum number of cuts identified in the Policy and Procedure is permitted, but this is deemed to be for amenity or environmental purposes and will be the responsibility of City, Borough or District Councils. Additional cutting will be undertaken to facilitate other maintenance works, for example prior to surface treatment or ditch cleaning.
The Council does not routinely treat unsightly or noxious weeds. The Weed Control / Clearance Policy and Procedures explain that spraying in some drainage systems might be undertaken depending on location and hierarchy of the road, before constructing new footpaths, and as a preventative measure during highway maintenance works. Reports alleging that noxious weeds on Council land have caused growth or have spread onto private land will be assessed.
The Council has produced a ‘Life on the Verge’ webpage and document which provides guidance on the management of highway verges. This encourages communities to take an active role in the management of verges for wildlife. A Hedges and Verges factsheet is also available which explains owners’ and occupiers’ responsibilities and provides advice on how they should be maintained.
Where customer reports are received, these are dealt with on a reactive basis where safety defects are present, or where action is necessary to restore availability of the highway by removing vegetation causing an obstruction. A risk-based procedure is used to prioritise actionable reports depending upon their defect category, as defined in the Highway Safety Policy. This makes efficient use of resources and provides a range of responses that are proportionate to each situation.
The Council has an ambition to be more proactive in the identification of the locations where overgrown vegetation will require action. This will avoid safety defects from arising and allow the work to be managed in a more efficient and controlled way and better timed to suit biodiversity needs.
4.3 Renewal or replacement
Trees
The Council is developing a Policy for the Replacement of Highway Trees. Currently, the planting of new trees by the Council on land in its ownership, as listed in 4.1 above, is done with consideration to suitable locations, including sites that are highway land often where trees have been removed. County-wide guidance on the successful establishment of street trees and other guidance is available on the Council’s Environment webpages.
In response to the impact of ash dieback, the Devon 3/2/1 formula is promoted which encourages at least 3 new trees for the loss of a large tree, 2 for a medium tree and 1 tree for a small tree. More details can be found on the Devon Ash Dieback Resilience Forum webpages.
Soft Landscape
The Council does not have a policy for the renewal or replacement of soft landscape.
4.4 Decommissioning of the asset
Trees
The Council operates a Tree Management Framework contract with a selection of local contractors who provide the services of expert tree surgeons. Under the Framework, the timber and waste arising from tree surgery on trees owned by the Council is either left safely on site or is removed by the Contractor.
The Council is exploring other ways of dealing with arisings, depending on the volume and type of timber. Some objectives that are being considered include:
- reducing and better controlling the release of embedded carbon,
- enhancing biodiversity,
- providing additional revenue (e.g. wood fuel), and
- providing timber resource to local community groups (e.g. wood carvers, wood turners, for local art, street furniture).
Soft Landscape
Soft landscape is not usually decommissioned. In situations where the replacement of soft landscape with paving or hard surface is proposed, the impacts of loss of habitat are assessed and a consultation is undertaken. Where the planning process is applicable to highways/development schemes, mitigation is sometimes provided, for example bird boxes.
Tools are available that enable schemes to be compared and assessed for the impact on natural capital, which provide two outputs: Biodiversity Units and Ecosystem Service Value (in terms of kg and £). The Council is considering whether these could be used.
4.5 Maintenance Service Standards
Maintenance Service Standards were developed which define the service of provision for each asset type based on three levels: Safety, Safety and Serviceability or Safety, Serviceability and Sustainability. These are defined in terms of what a road user could expect to see as shown in Figures 6.4 and 6.5. This is useful in understanding the level of service in the context of what is affordable.
| Trees | Provision of safety related issues only | Provision of safety and minimal level of serviceability | Provision of safety and intermediate level of serviceability | Provision of safety, serviceability, and sustainability issues |
| What a road user would see | Tree surgery in response to reported safety defects.
| Tree surgery in response to reported safety defects.
Cyclical cutting of trees to visibility splays to signs, junctions and on bends. | Tree surgery in response to reported safety defects.
Cyclical cutting of trees to visibility splays to signs, junctions and on bends. Removal of self-seeded trees in unsuitable locations. | Tree surgery in response to reported safety defects.
Cyclical cutting of trees to visibility splays to signs, junctions and on bends. Removal of self-seeded trees in unsuitable locations. Proactive pruning and management of trees. |
| Maintenance standards and activities. | Undertake safety inspections and react to defects that represent an immediate or imminent hazard. | Undertake safety inspections and react to defects that represent an immediate or imminent hazard.
Limited routine maintenance based on road hierarchy.
| Undertake safety inspections and react to defects that represent an immediate or imminent hazard.
Risk-based specialist inspections prioritising scheduled routine maintenance based on road hierarchy. | Undertake safety inspections and react to defects that represent an immediate or imminent hazard.
Risk-based specialist inspections and collection of inventory data, prioritising scheduled routine maintenance and planting based on road hierarchy. |
| Impact | Immediate or imminent hazards dealt with when reported.
No assessment of condition or health of trees which gives no way of planning a programme of work. | Immediate or imminent hazards dealt with when reported.
No assessment of condition or health of trees which gives no way of planning a programme of work. Limited routine maintenance will lead to some improvement of the asset and reduce the number of future defects from being reported | Immediate or imminent hazards dealt with when reported.
Specialist inspections will enable development of a prioritised programme. Routine maintenance will lead to general improvement of the asset and reduce the number of future defects from being reported. | Immediate or imminent hazards dealt with when reported.
Specialist inspections will enable development of a prioritised programme. Improvement to the asset will reduce the number of future defects from being reported. Understanding of the value of the asset e.g., in terms of carbon and biodiversity. Resilience to pathogens and enhancement of the diversity of species diversity. |
Fig. 6.4: Maintenance Standards for Trees
| Soft Landscape | Provision of safety related issues only | Provision of safety and minimal level of serviceability | Provision of safety and intermediate level of serviceability | Provision of safety, serviceability and sustainability issues |
| What a road user would see | Grass only cut to provide minimum safety visibility at junctions, bends and laybys.
Hedges cut for safety on major roads at bends, junctions and laybys. | Grass only cut to provide minimum safety visibility at junctions, bends and laybys. Cut shorter and more frequently.
Hedges cut for safety on major roads at bends. Junctions and laybys. | Grass cut on visibility splays, and on some verges.
Hedges managed proactively. | Grass cut across full verge width where required and part width elsewhere.
Hedges trimmed routinely. |
| Maintenance standards and activities. (Includes landscape management of hedges, grassed areas, weeds. | Undertake safety inspection and react to defects that present an immediate or imminent hazard.
Limited routine visibility cutting. No noxious or other weed treatment unless causing a safety issue. | Undertake safety inspection and react to defects that present an immediate or imminent hazard.
Some routine visibility cutting. No noxious weed treatment. Limited other weed treatment. | Undertake safety inspection and react to defects that present an immediate or imminent hazard.
Some routine visibility and verge cutting. Reactive noxious and other weed treatment. | Undertake safety inspection and react to defects that present an immediate or imminent hazard.
Routine visibility and verge cutting. Routine noxious and other weed treatment. |
| Impact | Lack of habitat consideration and an increase in environmental issues.
General untidiness and hidden litter. Increase in noxious and other weeds with infrastructure damage. | Lack of habitat consideration and potential environmental issues.
General untidiness and visible litter when cut. Increase in noxious and other weeds with infrastructure damage. | Some environmental management and consideration of habitats.
Limited weed control. | User satisfaction, improved claim & habitat management. |
Fig. 6.5: Maintenance Standards for Soft Landscape
As pressures on budgets continue and become more restrictive, the ability of the Council to provide a service above that of safety is going to be severely impacted.
The tables below show the maintenance standards for Trees and Soft Landscape that can be expected across the highway network with the current levels of funding.
| Carriageway Hierarchy | Maintenance Standard | Carriageway Hierarchy | Maintenance Standard | |
| 3 Rural | 3 Urban | |||
| 4 Rural | 4 Urban | |||
| 5 Rural | 5 Urban | |||
| 6 Rural | 6 Urban | |||
| 7 Rural | 7 Urban | |||
| 8 Rural | 8 Urban | |||
| 9 Rural | 9 Urban | |||
| 10 Rural | 10 Urban | |||
| 11 Rural | 11 Urban |
Key
| Maintenance Standard 1 | Provision of Safety, Serviceability and Sustainability |
| Maintenance Standard 2 | Provision of Safety and intermediate level of Serviceability |
| Maintenance Standard 3 | Provision of Safety and minimal level of Serviceability |
| Maintenance Standard 4 | Provision of Safety only |
Fig 6.6: Maintenance Standards for Trees and Soft Landscape for each Road Category
5. Levels of Service and Investment Strategy
Levels of Service demonstrate the relationship between the Council’s corporate objectives, including the Strategic Plan for 2021 – 2025, and the performance of highway assets in terms of stakeholder requirements. The Levels of Service represent the fundamental service aimed at helping to deliver a road network which is as safe, reliable and as fit for purpose as possible within the current funding and resource constraints. Figure 6.7 is an extract from the Strategy and shows the Levels of Service measures for Trees and Soft Landscape along with an indication of how they relate to the Council’s Levels of Service Statements.
| Asset | Service | Measure | Responding to the climate emergency
| Be ambitious for children and young people
| Support sustainable economic recovery
| Tackle poverty and inequality
| Improve health and wellbeing
| Help communities to be safe, connected and resilient
|
| Trees and Soft Landscape | Highway verge | Carry out annual programme of grass cutting to maintain safe visibility at junctions and visibility splays | √ | √ | ||||
| Trees | Inspect highways trees and prioritise repairs to safety defects in accordance with the Tree Inspection Policy | √ | √ | √ |
Fig 6.7: Levels of Service for Trees and Soft Landscape.
Investment Strategy for Trees and Soft Landscape
The risk-based approach to the safety management of highway trees and soft landscape is funded annually through the highway’s revenue budget. The budget lines are currently based on historical needs.
6. Programme Development
6.1 Identifying Schemes for an Initial Works Programme
A works programme has not traditionally been developed for the maintenance of highway trees, which is reactive in response to reports of defects posing a risk to the safety of the public.
Cyclical programmes are developed for grass and hedge cutting in accordance with the Policy. More information can be found on the Council’s webpages here.
The Council has an ambition to improve the coordination of activities on the highway network and to work more efficiently, for example by capitalising on traffic management setups thereby minimising disruption and achieving best value. In 2022, projects on the A361 and A380 have been successfully completed where these major roads were occupied by the Council with sufficient notice provided for a range of maintenance activities to be planned and undertaken at the same time, including tree works and maintenance of the soft landscape.
There is a desire to expand this approach and for the maintenance of trees and soft landscape to be considered whenever the Council will be occupying the highway network, particularly the busier (‘A’ and ‘B’ roads), for significant periods during highway improvement schemes. Sufficient notice is required to enable works to be planned because of ecological and operational considerations.
7. Risks
The issues which may prevent asset management objectives being achieved in relation to Trees and Soft Landscape are summarised below.
7.1 Climate Change
More frequent occurrence of extreme weather events, for example drought, flooding and storms, along with more variation in temperature, will put trees under greater stress. This could cause tree health to deteriorate increasing the risk of diseased or dangerous trees that require attention.
7.2 Funding
Financial pressure impacts the Council’s ability to follow maintenance regimes for appropriate pruning and pollarding of trees, increasing the risk of trees obstructing the highway and/or causing a nuisance/damage to neighbouring properties, when they will require costly action to address.
Similarly, constraints on the cyclical maintenance of verges will allow self-seeded trees to grow to maturity in undesirable locations requiring costly intervention to manage when they eventually become safety defects.
Restrictions on funding limit the Council’s ability to replant trees where they have had to be removed, this will be especially notable for street trees.
7.3 Pests and Diseases
Increasing numbers of pests and diseases are affecting the UK’s trees. Some have devastating consequences that cause a decline in health. The unpredictable nature of these issues and difficulty in preventing their spread mean that they cannot be planned for. Surges in defects could be experienced, which will have to be managed reactively (e.g. ash dieback). As the spread of Ash Dieback has been so significant, and the potential for infected trees to cause damage, injury or loss of life, Ash Dieback is being managed via the Council’s Risk Management System.
7.4 Invasive plants and injurious weeds
Invasive non-native plants are species that have been brought into the UK and can spread causing damage to the environment, economy, health or lifestyle.
Injurious weeds are native species that cause a problem to farming productivity.
Landowners could be prosecuted if invasive non-native plants or injurious weeds spread from their property and cause a nuisance or damage to other land or property.
7.5 Third-party trees and vegetation
Most highway trees and vegetation growing alongside the Council’s highway network is privately owned, and landowners are responsible for their management and maintenance. The failure to maintain private trees and vegetation by the landowners, either through inability, lack of awareness, or unwillingness, will result in adverse impacts on the safety or serviceability of the highway.
It is neither feasible, in terms of resources, nor appropriate for the Council to undertake this work in default of the rightful duty holder.
8. Improvement Actions
Alongside the Highway Infrastructure Asset Management Plan, this Annex is a live document. It will be subject to continuous improvement and ongoing development with input from Council Officers and Stakeholder feedback. Areas for improvement are identified within the Annex which are summarised as Improvement Actions in this section. These Actions are aligned with Strategic Goals and are assessed as part of a wider cross-asset prioritisation process that prioritises their implementation taking account of the framework of funding and resource availability.
The actions that have been identified as being required to ensure the Trees and Soft Landscape asset management objectives are achieved are:
- Developing our understanding of the tree stock by evolving the inventory – Opportunities being considered include capturing data on species, age, and condition, assessing the value of ecosystem services, identifying trees on maintenance category 6-12 roads for inclusion on the expert scheduled inspection route, and identification of our veteran trees and community trees so they can be protected and cared for.
- Develop a policy and strategy for the replanting of highway trees – This will provide a framework supporting the planning of a landscape for the future and helping tackle climate change, and guidance ensuring that species and locations for tree planting are chosen appropriately.
- Exploring ways of improving the maintenance of trees to allow works to be planned and undertaken at optimal times – This may reduce or prevent problems from occurring that require costly and time-consuming reactive works to address. Potential options being considered include taking maximum advantage of planned occupations of the highway for maintenance or improvement schemes, Tree Warden schemes, and communication with members of the public and engagement with school children.
- Be more proactive in the identification of locations where overgrown vegetation will require action – Develop a maintenance programme to avoid safety defects from occurring, allowing the work to be managed in a more efficient and controlled way and better timed to suit biodiversity needs.
- Exploring ways of dealing with tree and vegetation arisings – Reduce or better control the release of embedded carbon and enhance biodiversity and may provide additional revenue and a timber resource to local community groups.
- Improving communication with landowners about their trees and vegetation – Providing information and education on responsibilities and legal obligations. If successful, this would significantly reduce the Council’s time and costs spent dealing with privately owned trees and vegetation that are impacting the highway.
- Working with the term maintenance contractor to improve the effectiveness of the Council’s grass cutting programme – For example, considering different ways of utilising tractors and flails.
- Determine the value of the tree stock and soft landscape – For example, with consideration to the carbon sequestered and stored, and present in terms of a fiscal value. The possibility of using tools to compare and assess the impact of highway schemes on natural capital using biodiversity units and ecosystem service value.
Version Control
| Version | Date | Summary of Changes |
| 1.0 | 12 April 2023 |