Preservation orders for veteran trees denied in ‘hot potato’ Cambourne to Cambridge busway case
Council officers decided it was not “expedient” to award a tree preservation order (TPO) to 100-year-old Bramley apple trees in an orchard – because they will be bulldozed when the Greater Cambridge Partnership runs a new busway through the site.
Emails released under Freedom of Information rules reveal that officers at South Cambridgeshire District Council acknowledged the 12 trees at Coton Orchard scored highly enough to merit protection.
These include a Bramley recognised as a ‘Champion Tree’ by the Tree Register, being the second largest of its kind ever recorded in the British Isles.
But officers decided to withhold the TPOs after warnings that making the orders could be a political “hot potato” thanks to plans by the Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) to plough through the orchard with the Cambourne to Cambridge busway.
And it was concluded that preservation orders would not prevent the trees being chopped down to make way for the proposed route.
In an email to fellow officers within the Greater Cambridge Shared Planning Service, the built and natural environment manager at the council advised: “The trees would merit a TPO, however it is not considered expedient to service a TPO given the forthcoming plans to carry out major infrastructure works for the Cambridge-Cambourne busway. However, he [the tree officer] recommends that the opportunity should be taken to talk with GCP and their consultants about whether the precise alignment can be adjusted slightly.”
This was suggested because of a natural break in the trees.
A TPO application for the historic apple trees in Coton Orchard was submitted on 5 March, 2024, and the decision was supposed to take a maximum of 12 weeks. However, instead of up to 84 days, the process took 275 days as officers puzzled over how to respond to the request in the face of plans to route the busway through the orchard where the trees stand.
The GCP busway project aims to create a mostly off-road bus route between Cambourne and Cambridge via the new Bourn Airfield development, Hardwick, Coton and the West Cambridge site.
Cambridgeshire County Council – as the highways authority – agreed in March 2023 that a Transport and Works Act could be applied for to build the dedicated busway.
But the busway project has faced enormous opposition, with particular concern raised over the plans to cut through Coton Orchard, which would mean felling about 500 veteran trees in total.
An email released under the FOI rules from the tree officer stated six of the 12 trees for which a TPO was sought would fall directly under the busway route.
The tree officer noted in his email to the council’s natural environment team leader that the issue could become “a hot potato” as the council’s Conservative opposition leader Cllr Heather Williams had asked for the trees to be protected.
In an early draft of the tree officer’s TPO report, he said: “There is also a risk that this decision to not TPO the trees will become part of a media narrative whereby the council are being accused of pushing through a contentious development and so have cynically decided that the trees have little value, while in reality, we have followed the national process and used the national standard to assess the trees’ value as TPO candidates.”
The trees were scored as 15 on a TEMPO scale by the tree officer, which meant that on this basis they would merit TPO status. However, director of planning for Greater Cambridge, Stephen Kelly, made the final decision not to award the protection orders.
He said in a report that as the trees belonged to a commercial enterprise – the orchard – and because “the specific trees also fall within an area identified within published documents as forming part of the route of the Cambourne to Cambridge public transport corridor” the protection afforded by a TPO would be “significantly diminished” by exemption rules and that a TPO would not prevent the trees from being removed. Hence he declined to award the TPOs.
Anna Gazeley, owner of Coton Orchard, said: “‘Expedient’ is an interesting choice of word, isn’t it? Especially since we’ve been reassured time and time again that TPO decisions are purely merit-based. But according to internal emails unearthed in the FOI request, the application was treated more like a game of ‘hot potato’ – their words not mine – with officials passing it around in hopes of not being caught holding it when the music stopped. And stop it did, with joint director of planning Stephen Kelly quietly making the delegated decision to reject it, without bothering to take it to committee.
“What happened to democratic process, transparency and accountability?
“So here we are: 12 historic trees, perfectly eligible for protection, sacrificed at the altar of ‘expediency’, while a potentially unnecessary busway project barrels forward with scant regard for democratic oversight. Councillor Bridget Smith – the council leader – tells us the environment is ‘at the core’ of everything the council does, but one can’t help wondering if this core might be slightly rotten.
“As we all prepare for the festive season, toasting to goodwill and fresh starts, perhaps our councillors could reflect on the gap between their words and their actions. Meanwhile, those of us with fewer words and more actions on our to-do list will be drafting objections to the Department for Transport.”
Ms Gazeley has called for the TPOs to be discussed by the council’s planning committee.
She said: “Given the council dragged their feet for the best part of a year there clearly was time to have a debate in committee and allow the public to give input.”
She highlighted that part of the reason given by Mr Kelly for refusing the TPOs was their visibility. As part of the scoring process, the council deducted three points from the trees’ total because they are only “occasionally visible to the public”. As a result, Mr Kelly was not convinced that “a significant negative impact on the local environment and its enjoyment by the public would arise if the trees were removed”.
Ms Gazeley said she would like the public to be given a chance to comment, given the orchard holds several public events, including wassails, bioblitzes, school visits and workshops. And she pointed to the irony that the council noted the trees “will become visible from the proposed busway” – the very busway that will bulldoze them.
A district council spokesperson said: “The report gives full and careful consideration, including reference to government advice on such matters, on the matter of whether a TPO should be introduced for these specific trees. The reasons why the request for a TPO submitted has not led to the introduction of a TPO in this case is therefore set out in full in the report.
“These trees form a part of a commercial orchard that benefits from exemptions in law from the TPO process. The trees are also within the identified line of a proposed public transport corridor, currently being assessed by the government through a Transport and Works Act Order (TWAO) application. In the event that the TWAO proposals are approved by the government next year, the ‘permission’ would override the protection provided by a TPO.
“On that basis and in line with the government’s published guidance, making a TPO would not therefore achieve the objectives of protecting the trees. The council has a specialist team of officers dedicated to protecting trees across the district.
“In this case, however, for the reasons outlined in the report, making a TPO would not fulfil the objectives of the TPO regime.”