Do you own wooded land in Kingston? It’s important to know that however many trees you have, their species, positioning etc. – you’ll be responsible for their condition. At W.J. Kent Tree Consultants, we’re here to help you fulfil that responsibility, via the provision of services from tree safety inspections to more wide reaching tree surveys; we also assist Kingston clients who wish to launch development on their land, but need arboricultural reports e.g an Arboricultural Impact Assessment, in order to obtain planning permission.
Below, we’ve looked to go into further detail about your responsibilities as a landowner. But should you have any question regarding the information on this page, or wish to book in one of the services detailed across our website, don’t hesitate to call the W.J. Kent Tree Consultants team on 020 8668 8362.
What You Need to Know From a full-fledged and diversely populated forest, to a tree on its lonesome, a party always has a duty of care in relation to their well-being – this may be the current tenant as contractually stipulated, the original landowner, or estate management company. But how might a Kingston client fall foul of this duty of care?
Most typically, issues occur when a branch or bough fall from an ailing tree and injure someone passing under below, or damage property – either a member of the public, or staff member, depending on whether the land is private or publically accessible, or perhaps a vehicle. Individuals and companies found to have neglected regular tree safety inspections, arboricultural reports from competent persons (like the W.J. Kent Tree Consultants team), or intermittent tree surveys are usually found to be in breach of their duty of care and subject to significant fines and legal proceedings.
Problems can also arise when developments are launched without proper consideration around tree populations on your land or that nearby (e.g on neighbouring, wooded areas). Arboricultural reports like an Arboricultural Impact Assessment are like carefully tailored tree surveys: that don’t just take stock of what you have, but provide recommendations around constraints so you can abide by Tree Protection Orders and similar legislation; ultimately, the aim is to safeguard tree stock while getting you the green light, with as little compromise on initial ideas/designs as possible.
Fulfilling Your Obligations Management – The first thing Kingston clients should consider is formulating a management plan. A tree survey conducted by W.J. Kent Tree Consultants will serve as the foundation for this, providing you detailed and clear information on the species, condition, sizes and risks of wooded areas on your land. Subsequent arboricultural reports will recommend scheduled maintenance and tree inspection, considering both the short, mid and long term forecast of health and environmental factors. Smaller properties with just a few trees can achieve the same degree of oversight via a targeted tree in section.
Clear Records – We always provide Kingston clients with documentation, detailing the findings of any tree inspection, tree survey, or the contents of arboricultural reports e.g an Arboricultural Impact Assessment. These should be kept on file, just in case an incident occur and you need to prove that you’ve fulfilled your duty of care as a landowner.
Inspections – Clients are urged to give a daily lookover of their land to try and spot any sudden changes to trees, perhaps caused by inclement weather or trespassers. Beyond this, periodic tree inspections / tree safety inspections, conducted by our trained tree consultants, can provide peace of mind and catalogue any potential issues, allowing for early intervention and protection of surrounding property and tree populations (for example, in the case of a highly contagious tree disease).
Pre-Development Reports – Before beginning any development work on your site, it’s essential to call in tree consultants to launch an Arboricultural Impact Assessment. These ascertain whether tree populations will be impacted by the work involved, a pre-requisite that Kingston’s local planning authority will certainly require before providing development approval, and also provide recommendations for circumventing negative impact. CAD technology is used to inform the design process, and ensure a development considers Root Protection Areas and other vital factors.
