2020-10-01 Planning Application 202256 – Tree felling in The Coombes

DevWatch Alert
Planning Application 202256 – Tree felling in The Coombes

Dean Thomson, one of the plot holders in The Coombes, has submitted a planning application to fell all mature sweet chestnut trees within 30 metres of the south side of a 50m stretch of Coombes Lane.

Whilst some coppicing may be appropriate to manage woodland, wholesale felling of mature trees is not acceptable.

Residents who wish to comment/object to this application can do so on the WBC website via this link:

https://planning.wokingham.gov.uk/FastWebPL/detail.asp?AltRef=202256&ApplicationNumber=202256&AddressPrefix&Postcode&KeywordSearch&Submit=Search&fbclid=IwAR3ptXVgdeFrz1hphYruNnUxt_nSW20xHeaDfoJMqh2yGFke85_TrilriTQ

No closing date for comments is given on the WBC website but we have been advised it is 15 October.  However, this has not been formally confirmed so we suggest residents comment as soon as possible. 

Some detailed comments have been supplied by a local resident, which you may wish to review and help you in drafting your replies.  You can see and review these comments on the WBC site but extracts from a draft are given below for information:

Draft comments

The application form describes the works as a ‘continuation of forestry and coppice work’ and annotates the first of 4 previous TPO applications, 183514, as ‘Phase 1 of sweet chestnut coppice’. That application was for work on trees only within 4m of a then-derelict water tank and made no mention of being the start of an ongoing programme of deforestation. The current application is for a much more damaging felling of all mature sweet chestnut trees, the majority species, within 30m on the south side of a 50m stretch of Coombes Lane.

The site has long formed part of a designated Local Wildlife Site, and is also within a designated Local Geological Site.

The Coombes woodland supports an unusually wide biodiversity, including protected species such as bats, badgers, slow-worms, adders, grass snakes and a number of birds.

Over 420 distinct species have been identified in the Coombes, spanning 125 animals and birds, 245 plants, and 50 lichens and fungi. A species list was generated using records from a study by the Nature Conservancy Council (NCC) and an independent botanist for the Barkham Village Residents Association (BVRA), the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), the Thames Valley Environmental Record Centre (TVERC), the Wokingham District Veteran Tree Association (WDVTA) and other groups. The combined species list has been lodged with the TVERC.

The rich biodiversity of the Coombes relies on the needs of each species being met, in particular a suitable habitat with a range of suitable food sources. The ecosystem that has established itself there has an underlying food chain to satisfy them all. There are, for example, invertebrates living off rotting, fallen trees and themselves being eaten by some of the birds. At the other end of the scale are mammals such as foxes, badgers and deer that meet their dietary requirements in very different ways from each other.

The Coombes, which includes the site in question, has been recognised by Natural England as Ancient and Semi-Natural Woodland. According to paragraph 175(c) of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), ‘development resulting in the loss or deterioration of irreplaceable habitats (such as ancient woodland and ancient or veteran trees) should be refused, unless there are wholly exceptional reasons’. The example given of such a reason is ‘infrastructure projects (including nationally significant infrastructure projects, orders under the Transport and Works Act and hybrid bills), where the public benefit would clearly outweigh the loss or deterioration of habitat.’ The current proposal offers no such wholly exceptional reason.

The Arborfield and Barkham Neighbourhood Plan includes a policy concerning the natural environment. Two particularly relevant sections of it are:

IRS3 – Protection and Enhancement of the Natural Environment and Green Spaces:

1. Development proposals should conserve and enhance the natural environment and green spaces of the area, specifically:
   1. Ensure that there is no loss of biodiversity and normally provide a net gain. Where there is likely to be a loss of biodiversity, development will only be acceptable if mitigation measures can be put in place to ensure there is no net loss of biodiversity, through the creation of like-for-like habitats.
   2. Take any opportunities to protect, enhance and extend wildlife corridors between existing open spaces and habitats as a means of mitigating the impacts of development on biodiversity.
   3. Conserve the environment for nocturnal species, through the avoidance of lighting and mitigating the impact of external lighting likely to increase night time human presence.
   4. Contain measures that will help to mitigate the impacts of, and adapt to, climate change
2. Locally valued natural assets have been identified within the plan as follows and development proposals should conserve and where possible enhance them:
   1. The Coombes woodland and adjacent areas
   2. The Holt woodland
   3. Rhododendron avenue along Bearwood Road

Trees, which contribute to the mitigation of the impacts of climate change, should not be removed unnecessarily, in accordance with IRS3, 1, d).

Also, to satisfy both the NPPF and IRS3, biodiversity and irreplaceable habitats need to be maintained.

Approval of TPO works applications should therefore be confined to cases with immediate health and safety implications. Even then, it should be stipulated that tree cuttings are left on the open ground to decompose, supporting the lower end of the food chain and nourishing the ground, thereby sustaining the local ecosystem. It would be detrimental to the habitat and food chain to remove cuttings from the site, whether as raw timber or formed into woodland products, as suggested in the SMW report.

Users of Coombes Lane, or the footpath joining it opposite Gravelpithill Lane, would see a stark and undesirable gap in the mature woodland landscape. Its creation would be the result of neither conserving nor enhancing the locally valued natural asset of the Coombes, contrary to IRS3, 3, a).

Summary

The proposed tree works would have a major detrimental impact on both the environment and landscape of the Coombes, and would be contrary to national and local planning policies.

Kind Regards 
BVRA

Please note all previous DevWatch alerts can be viewed on the BVRA website at https://www.barkham.org.uk/index.php/devwatch 

WBC is an abbreviation for Wokingham Borough Council