Commemorative trees at centre of Suffolk housebuildingwrangle

The application to build 14 homes at Rushmere St Andrew near Ipswich was submitted last year onbehalf of a consortium of charities. It was rejected unanimously in December by Suffolk CoastalDistrict Council's planning committee, which cited numerous planning policies that it said theapplication would breach.

Local residents' group, Save Our Rushmere'sRural Identity (SORRI), campaigned againstthe initial application and is again urging large-scale opposition to the appeal. As well as thevisual impact and loss of rural character theywould bring, the proposals would threatentrees planted to commemorate relatives of localresidents, it has said.

A representative of property consultancy Knight Frank LLP, which submitted the original applicationon the charities' behalf, said it could find no evidence of the trees being commemorative, but added:"We have carried out an arboricultural survey of the site and intend to preserve as many of the treesas possible."

But Barbara Robinson of SORRI said: "The revised plan shows all bar one of the 165 or so maturingtrees on the site are to be removed," and added that an earlier tree survey listed date, species, andreason for planting the commemorative trees.

The current appeal is accepting comments from interestedparties until 30 April, after which the case will be dealtwith by written representation.

http://www.hortweek.com/commemorative-trees-centre-suffolk-housebuilding-wrangle/arboriculture/article/1342699