October has been an active month for our team, marked by a significant increase in activity. One major challenge we encountered involved conducting a tree survey on a very large potential development site. The site features some truly remarkable trees, but it also presented us with an interesting dilemma. As many readers will know, Biodiversity Net Gain became a legal requirement for most development sites in 2024. This legislation also introduced the first legal definition of a veteran tree. In one sense, this is beneficial because everyone on the design team now has a standard to follow. However, (and there always seems to be a “but”), the definition sets a rather low threshold, which is at the heart of our dilemma.
While this isn’t the place to delve deeply into what constitutes a veteran tree or why they are important, it became clear as the survey progressed that a surveyor’s interpretation of the definition can significantly impact a development project. If the definition is applied strictly as written, we estimate that up to ten times more trees on a typical development site could be classified as veterans. Conversely, using professional judgment and experience would allow focus on those truly exceptional trees. The challenge is that, during the planning process, consultees must interpret these definitions, often relying exclusively on the surveyor’s descriptions without ever seeing the trees themselves. And so, the core issue emerges – while having a definition for veteran trees is helpful, setting the bar so low leaves room for misinterpretation and may diminish the value of genuinely special, irreplaceable trees. Furthermore, there appears to be little consideration given to those outstanding trees listed as Notable in the Ancient Tree Inventory (which is worth investigating). Why aren’t we adequately protecting these living pieces of history, while potentially permitting less significant trees to receive attention instead? The Woodland Trust is addressing this through its Living Legends campaign. Take a look and consider adding your name to the petition —we need to get this right, and we need to act now!
