The London Trees and Woodland Framework

 

The London Trees and Woodland Framework is part of the Environment Strategy of the Greater London Authority. It was launched on the 23rd March 2005 and is the result of a broad partnership of London-wide bodies headed by the Forestry Commission and the GLA.

The overall goal of the Framework is to provide a strategic approach to trees and woodlands that delivers the Mayor’s vision for London and the relevant Mayoral Strategies within the context of the England Forestry Strategy.  The Mayor of London, the Greater London Authority and the Forestry Commission are firmly committed to maintaining and enhancing London’s trees and woodland as a vital part of the environment of Greater London.

Trees and woodlands are good for Londoners, good for visitors to London, and good for business in London. The London Tree and Woodland Framework shows us why, and tells us what we should do to maximise their contribution to London’s quality of life.

Related documents

Connecting Londoners with Trees and Woodlands:

• A leaflet about the Tree and Woodland Framework for London (PDF: 321kb / 8 pages)
• A Tree and Woodland Framework for London (PDF: 1.6MB / 78 pages)

Whats New:

1. Framework Develops Tree Strategy Guidance in London.
2. Right Place Right Tree Initiative.
3. A Trees and Woodlands Vision for the London 2012 Games.
4. Trees and Building Subsidence in London.
5. The Joint Mitigation Protocol

1. LTWF Develops Advice for Tree Strategies in London.

A priority of the Framework is to encourage local authorities to produce comprehensive tree strategies or tree policies so that individually the London borough's take positive steps to adequately protect their trees and woodlands. By doing this they collectively safeguard London's unique resource of trees in woodlands, parks and urban areas. Many local authorities have already produced these strategies but there remain gaps in the overall coverage of London.

The introduction of Local Development Frameworks and Supplementary Planning Documents to replace Unitary Development Plans and Supplementary Planning Documents respectively is an excellent opportunity for Boroughs to place trees and woodlands at the heart of their green credentials. The London Trees and Woodlands Framework seeks to influence the development of these and other related documents and is working on producing Tree Strategy guidance for all those boroughs who have yet to publish a comprehensive set of policies on how they will manage and protect the trees and woodlands in their care. It is hoped this Tree Strategy Guidance will be available by Summer of 2008

2. Right Place Right Tree.

One of the principal objectives of the LTWF is to ensure future tree planting in London is appropriate, sustainable, considered and permits the long term survival of those trees planted so that they fulfil their growth potential and make the maximum contribution possible without causing many of the problems traditionally associated with planting trees in urban areas.

To this end a "Right Place Right Tree" advice pamphlet is planned that will give helpful and practical advice aimed at professionals and the public alike so that they can make the right decisions about which type of trees to plant where in London.

The pamphlet will also cover ensuring that in designing new developments the "Right Places" are also created so that large landscape trees continue to a part of London's skyline. This process will be especially important in future years as large landscape trees have the nmost to contribute to the capital in terms of mitigating the expected imnpacts of climate change.

3. A Trees and Woodlands Vision for the London 2012 Games.

A group of partner organisations have come together as The Trees and Woodlands Partnership  to raise the profile of trees and woodlands for the London 2012 Games and prepared a list of ten "Recommendations" that has been presented to London 2012. The partners are being lead by The Forestry Commission and The London Tree Officers Association and include:

Arboricultural Association, Hilliers Nurseries, Groundwork London,  London Borough of Hackney, London Borough of Newham, London Wildlife Trust, The Royal Parks, Tree Council, Trees for Cities, Westminster City Council and the Woodland Trust

"The coming of the Games to London in 2012 is a once in a life time opportunity to make a difference, not only in the regeneration of East London but nationally as well. Trees and woodlands should be be an essential element of the environmental legacy of the Games. The opportunity also presents itself for the Games to be an exemplar of sustainable design and construction using wood and wood products. We are committed to working with our partners and the Games authorities to make this a "Green Games" to remember".

Lord Clark, Chairman, Forestry Commission 2007    

The aim of the group is to assist London 2012 to make a substantial commitment to having trees and woodlands as an integral part of the Games Legacy. By creating a landscape that accentuates health, fitness and physical activity, the very embodiment of the Games ethos, London 2012 will be quite literally sowing the seeds of healthy, prosperous and vibrant communities in east London and across the UK. 

4. Trees and Building Subsidence in London.

A priority action for The London Trees and Woodlands Framework is to provide and disseminate better information to the public and the media on tree related subsidence in London. The Framework manager has been assisting one of the Framework partners, The London Tree Officers Association to revise its document "A Risk Limitation Strategy for Tree Root Claims". This document was first produced in 1993 and was the first of its kind in giving local authority tree officers authoritative advice on how to deal with the numbers of burgeoning insurance claims.

The 3rd Revision of the LTOA's  A Risk Limitation Strategy for Tree Root Claims was published on the 31st of May 2007 and is available to download free of charge from the LTOA's website www.ltoa.org.uk. This document is a comprehensive guide for Local authorities on how they may deal with and mitigate their liability in respect of tree related insurance claims. It offers practical and helpful advice to tree officers, risk managers as well offering members of the public an insight into how these insurance claims are dealt with and progressed.

The numbers of subsidence insurance claims in London has been steadily rising over the last decade and is intimately linked with lack of winter rainfall and very hot summers. The revision of this new advice has incorporated all the recent national guidance on trees and subsidence and takes a fresh look at the evidential requirements for determining if a tree is the cause of a subsidence event. It is complemented by the Joint Mitigation Protocol.

5. The Joint Mitigation Protocol

The Joint Mitigation Protocol is an agreed method of subsidence claims management where trees are implicated as being the cause of building movement. It seeks to establish best practice in the processing and investigation of tree root induced building damage, benchmarking time scales for responses and standards of evidence. It has taken three years of negotiation and effort to reach the point of publication. During the course of negotiations the Protocol Group has included and benefited from the input of insurers, local authority tree and risk managers, loss adjusters, engineers and arboricultural consultants. Its principal aims are to speed up the process of claims handling, decision making and mitigation implementation leading to resolution, while at the same time recognising the value of trees in the built environment and providing local authorities with all the investigative evidence required at the beginning of the process. A timely decision may then be made on what course of action is appropriate in respect of the tree. It represents a considerable achievement, as for the first time, building insurers and their agents have agreed that remedial pruning may be considered as an option rather than always asking for tree removal.

The Protocol is due to be published in spring 2008 and it is hoped that adoption of the Joint Mitigation Protocol by individual local authorities and insurers alike as an agreed and mutually beneficial process will herald a new era of co-operation and partnership working between the two sectors. Trees that should be retained will be and claims will be processed quickly so resident’s properties are repaired without unnecessary delay.