Trees

Trees in the countryside and in our village streets, green spaces and gardens make a wonderful contribution to the landscape and attractiveness of our village and parish. They lift our spirits and provide us with a shady place to sit.

Trees do lots of other good things too:

• they provide habitat for insects, mammals and birds, native trees especially.
• they store carbon, and help us reduce our carbon footprint.
• they help to control flooding, by taking up water through their roots and slowing the flow.
• and create cooling shade for the fish and other wildlife in our becks and river.

We have many notable trees in the village that are covered byTree Preservation Orders (TPOs). Local Planning Authorities (in our case Bradford Council) make TPOs to protect particularly attractive trees that contribute to the apperance of an area. If a tree is protected by a TPO is is illegal to ‘cut down, prune, or otherwise damage’ it without the Council’s consent.

Special rules apply in Addingham Conservation Area that covers much of the older parts of the village.

All trees in the conservation area over a certain size (a stem diameter measuring 75mm or more measured at 1.5m from the ground) are protected. This means if you live in the Conservation Area and wish to prune or work on trees of this size or over on your property, you will need to submit a ‘formal notice of intent’ to the Council and seek approval. The penalties for unauthorised felling or lopping of trees in Conservation Areas are the same as for trees protected by TPO.

Over the last few years we have been using Bradford Council records and our own observations to create an up-to-date database on our trees with TPOs.

Our aims are:

• To find out which trees have been removed and to check on replacements. We have found that not all trees shown on the Council’s TPO map are still there.
• Add more information about the individual trees, such as girth and height.
• Identify notable trees not covered by TPOs that are particularly worthy of protection.
• Draw attention to the importance of trees of all kinds in the village and making sure property owners are aware of the status of their trees.

Here’s our village TPO map showing the location of the different trees with associated information.

You can check out which trees are protected by TPOs, see where the Conservation Area boundary is and view AEG tree surveys. The base map can be switched to and from satellite view by clicking the small square at the bottom left of the left hand panel.

By clicking on the marker for a particular tree, you will find more information, including the TPO reference number. You can use this to search on Bradford Council’s map and view the TPO legal documents.