Agenda item

To consider report PES/466 of the Head of Economy and Planning.

RECOMMENDATION to CONFIRM.

The Committee considered report PES/466 of the Head of Economy and Planning which sought to determine whether to confirm the Tree Preservation Order (TPO) – Crawley College - 02/2024 – with or without modification for continued protection, or not to confirm the TPO.

Councillor Jaggard declared she had visited the site.

The Principal Planning Officer provided a verbal summation of the application, which related to three groups of trees and six individual trees on the Crawley College site.  A planning application for development of the site was submitted in December 2023 and part of the development was proposed to be constructed in close proximity to one of the tree groups.  It was explained that the trees were deemed to have good amenity value and were therefore worthy of protection prior to any development taking place on the site.  In March 2024 the trees were protected under a six month provisional TPO, which the Committee was now requested to confirm. 

The Committee then considered the application.  Committee members discussed the pair of adjacent oak trees (which included tree T5) and the importance of retaining older oak trees for their contribution to biodiversity.  It was confirmed that one tree was proposed to be protected for its amenity – the other tree was not as it was in poorer condition and had lower amenity value.

Committee members discussed the relationship between the TPO and the submitted planning application at the site and sought to further understand the impact that confirmation of the TPO would have on the proposed development.  The Planning Officer explained that the college (as the applicant) had submitted a proposed masterplan for the site which the Council had agreed to, but no planning permission had been granted for later phases of the development of the whole site nor was this a consideration for the Committee at present.  The future decision on the planning application would need to weigh up all relevant planning considerations, including any TPOs in place.  Protection of the trees would not necessarily prevent the development from being permitted, nor would it preclude works to or removal of the trees from taking place.  Instead it allowed for tighter control over the trees, which the Committee considered important.  It would also ensure a tree could be replaced if it were to be felled.

In response to a suggestion that communication with the college could have been improved throughout the process of making the provisional TPO, officers confirmed that the applicant was aware of the importance of the trees as this had been emphasised by officers at each stage of the processing of earlier planning applications and in discussions with the applicant.  It was standard practice to serve a provisional TPO without notice as this prevented trees from being felled while a TPO was pending.

The Committee then moved to a vote on the recommendation set out in the report. The recommendation was moved by Councillor Pritchard as the Chair and seconded by Councillor Mwagale as the Vice-Chair.

RESOLVED

Confirm, without modification.