Scenario 6: Local authority – city council
Scenario 6 relates to metropolitan authorities, including London boroughs, which contain a large conurbation. This example council is responsible for managing land in the city centre, the outlying suburbs and some rural land in the green belt. The overall population is approximately 300 000. The city council employs one arboricultural manager and four tree officers.
They proactively manage all street and park trees and respond to more than 2000 public queries each year. Two separate council officers in the planning department deal with tree-preservation orders and development issues.
8600 ha 
Approximately 300 000 General information
Ownership/control of management
Responsibility: The local authority has responsibility for all municipal property and services within the city boundary, including trees. This includes:
- Highways: 25 000 street trees
- Parks: 120 different open spaces covering 845 ha and one municipal golf course
- Housing: 8000 trees on council estates and individual gardens
- Schools: 102 schools
- One cemetery and seven closed churchyards
The council contracts out tree work to approved companies and the manager and his team manage a budget of more than £600 000 for all tree-management and maintenance requirements, including planting. The city is built on shrinkable clay soil and the tree officers spend a substantial amount of time dealing with subsidence issues.
Arboricultural competence: The manager and his team manage the city council’s tree stock in relation to amenity, public, political and environmental interests, building-damage risks and public safety. The manager is a chartered arboriculturist and the team is qualified from RQF Level 4 to Level 6 with 3–30 years’ experience of managing trees. Highway engineers and other non-arboricultural staff are trained in basic tree inspection so that informal and formal checks can inform the need for further inspection.
Details of all the public trees are held on a specialised database, as the authority’s insurance service requires evidence of management in the event of either personal injury or subsidence claims.
Access
The city attracts many visitors, who, together with residents, enjoy the public spaces. Many of the parks are Victorian in design and many city trees date from that time. In the suburbs, there is an ageing tree stock of ornamental species, many with recognised defects.
Benefits of trees
The city is proud of its parks and the public interest in street trees is well documented. The council has a published tree strategy outlining its approach to its different responsibilities. One aim is to increase street tree cover by 2% each year for 10 years. Funding is in place to achieve this target, although this is under review.
Because its tree strategy aims to proactively manage and maintain a healthy, sustainable tree population for the public’s benefit, the council considers that its tree risk management policy is reasonable and cost-effective and that it is compatible with all its other tree-related policy objectives.
Natural living organisms
Under the arboricultural manager’s influence, staff throughout the city council’s departments have become increasingly aware of the role that tree stock plays in their overall environmental policy. This has led to the increased retention of dead wood for habitat benefit, both in living and dead trees, and in managing tree safety issues in more innovative and responsible ways.
Strategy
Management
Because of the risk of subsidence in the area, many mature street trees are pruned on a three-year cycle, during which they are also inspected for their condition. The remaining population of street trees and those in schools and parks are also inspected every three years. Those trees found to be in a poor condition are managed accordingly. Specific trees are identified for more frequent assessment based upon position, size and condition.
The areas described above are managed proactively throughout the year, balancing the benefits the trees provide with the need for proportionate risk control. Tree queries raised by residents are logged and processed, along with information from informal and formal checks carried out by non-arboricultural staff. The tree officers record all tree inspections and any emergency work carried out. If they remove a street tree, they assess the location for replanting opportunities to keep in line with the council’s stated strategic increase in its tree stock.
Competence
The tree officers carry out the main survey work. They look after all areas of public land in the city, with each officer responsible for a specific area, although they work together to carry out surveys of parks and schools for both safeguarding and support.
Records
The tree officers keep records using the software system designed for the purpose.
Evaluation
The council is committed to following its published tree strategy, which the council cabinet accepted as policy. Tree safety is only one element of managing trees. The manager and his team are aware of the importance of having a proactive system. In recent years, a change in the way they manage trees in less formal parkland has seen an increase in retaining, managing and monitoring standing dead trees. This has led to an increase in biodiversity and has also saved money.
The tree officers’ knowledge of the district and its tree stock has helped save numerous trees under threat from subsidence claims and vociferous residents. The tree strategy explains unambiguously the council’s intentions with respect to managing trees in the city. While these systems are in place, there are still more than 100 incidents of tree or branch failure each year in the city, although these are mostly either small ornamental trees that were all planted at the same time and are coming to the end of their lives, or trees which have been damaged by vehicles.