Hornchurch, RM11 3LJ

Proposal

Email sent 08/05/25. Further photos to be sent today 26/05/25 by email or download Our Weeping Birch (T14-1971), has suddenly died in the front garden (north boundary). It was one of a pair that was the subject of a TPO. Please may we have permission to remove it? We have honey fungus in our garden and it is killing a lot of plants and trees. The matching Weeping Birch (T15-1971) which was planted alongside this dead one, was felled in 2010. We spoke to Bob Roper (Principal Planner) at the time and he gave verbal permission to Keith and Bill (Essex Tree Surgeons) and to us, to remove the tree. We followed up by sending an email with photos, plus a follow-up letter to him. I have kept copies of our correspondence and will send copies by email (or download) today 26/05/25 to you. As the trees were planted symmetrically along the north boundary, we were waiting for the surviving Weeping Birch to die before replacing the pair with two identical trees. The present tree has looked sick for a very long time. Do you want us to replace one tree, or both? The honey fungus is currently in the soil and is moving along the north boundary, killing a great number of plants. If we were to replant this year, the fungus may well attack the new trees. We do have a very large Maple, also on the north boundary and there is a huge Sweet Chestnut fairly close to us, that straddles the east boundary with next door (Nos. 1 and 2, Astwood Close, Herbert Road.) I will make a sketch to help you although you are very welcome to make a home visit to look at the tree and it's proximity to others. We do not yet have a preference for tree type( if the trees need to be replaced), although they would probably need to be smaller types of tree, as we have extra-large trees close by.