Beech Tree insurance

[Meadowcopse]

Regarding the garden waste, have a look at Environment Agency waste exemptions - probably a whole can of worms regarding waste being disposed on someone else's land.

(My head still hurts from sorting an exemption for bringing in shreddings, dead leaves and inland waterway dredgings).

[adam]

Regarding the TPO ... yes unfortunatley they can apply to the whole woodland! I have one on my woodland too. While I cannot deny that I'd prefer not to have the helping hand of the local authority protecting my woodland from me, (it completely put me off buying it at first), in reality it has not proved to be much of a problem.

I drafted my own management plan that gave a fair amount of "wiggle room" and simply requested approval for a 5 year program of work to complete the activities described in the plan. Approval came through within a couple of months without any further "hassle".

I don't have the references to hand, but from this forum I found some good government documentation that outlined how the local authority should handle the TPO ... from memory there were several vaguely comforting sections of that that gave the impression that the handling of such woodland TPOs was a little different to a TPO on an individual tree ... some comment that active management and approval for long term "programs of work" shoud be encouraged and also if I recall a statement that the LPA should only refuse approval if they are convinced that the proposed work is not in accordance with "good forestry practices".

So for me, the TPO has not proved to be any great problem yet although that may just have been good luck and I may get a different opinion in 4 years time when it is time to apply again.

Adam.

[docsquid]

Our experience is very similar to adam's. We have a woodland TPO, and initially, particularly when the Local Authority were approaching every enquiry from us as if it were a prelude to building a block of flats, a Tesco and a car park on the site, was annoying. However with the Forestry Commission Woodland Management Plan, we have confirmed that as long as we are managing within the constraints of the plan, then this effectively overrides the TPO for the duration of the WMP. This means that we can prune, coppice, and do tree surgery without having to apply for TPO works every time. We recently had to fell an oak tree near the entrance due to increasing numbers of visitors and the fact that it was obstructing visibility and therefore an accident risk. Although we had planning permission to remove this three years ago, we delayed in case the visitors didn't come. They did, so we told the LA that we were cutting it down and they were fine about it - we even used the Council contractors to do it as we needed traffic lights while the work was done. Interestingly, the TPO will not apply to our new 9 acre wood just planted, as it isn't part of Alvecote Wood, but an entirely new woodland.

[tracy]

Just bumping this thread for the sake of our new members.... and to see if anyone has anything to add...found any great or not great insurers lately?

[Toby Allen]

We've used Gary at the Beech Tree for the last few years. He's got bespoke policy for us and our activities, which has saved us using different insurers for each. Also for a very good rate, a few of our friends in the industry have started using him too now. Gary is good at speaking in laymans terms which is the main reason we use him.

[Bulworthy Project]

We would just like to say that if woodland owners are looking for insurance they should definitely consider contacting Beechtree insurance.

We have recently offered the use of our woodland to our local primary school as a forest school facility. Unfortunately our existing public liability insurance did not cover this. The school was happy to pay the difference, but we found it difficult to find an insurance company that would cover this.

Gary was extremely helpful in this and as a result we now have one insurance policy that covers this liability, our existing public liability and our charcoal business including the courses that we run.