Council leader urges laws to defend protected trees

Councils that refuse to allow felling can be liable for damage to buildings

A council leader has urged the government to create new laws to stop protected trees being felled.

Simon Martin, the leader of Fareham Borough Council in Hampshire, said trees were increasingly being held responsible for damage to buildings through subsidence.

Writing to Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, the Conservative leader said insurance companies usually sought a remedy of removing the trees involved, even those covered by Tree Preservation Orders.

He said councils could be exposed to "substantial compensation claims" if they refused the insurance firms' felling applications.

Mr Martin wrote: "When trees are implicated as the cause of subsidence, the default position of insurance companies in the large majority of cases is to seek the removal of the tree.

"If the council refuses consent, it becomes immediately liable to potential compensation claims from the owner of the property affected by subsidence."

Council leader Simon Martin said alternatives to felling should be considered

The council said it had no budget for compensation claims and had allowed 135 out of 144 felling applications in two years.

Mr Martin said new legislation should make felling a "last resort".

He said the environmental value of the tree should be considered and alternatives to felling should be explored, such as installing underground root barriers.

He added that compensation claims should be "limited to situations such as those where it has been demonstrated that there is no viable alternative to felling a tree and the local authority still refuses consent".

The Association of British Insurers said felling was not its default solution to protect homes.

In a statement it said: "It is a balance between preserving greenery, while ensuring that homeowners can get competitively priced home insurance, not least because without it their mortgage could be at risk."