Extra Curricular Tree Surveys

Down to Dundee by train last night after tea to stay with my mum and dad so that I could help my dad with a site visit today.

My dad is designing a house for a client on a site where access has already been negotiated and planning permission granted. Straight forward enough you'd think, except that the access route agreed is through a bank of trees and in order to create a new road you'd have to remove a couple of the poorer specimens and then create a sort of floating structure for the road surface on top of the existing ground level in order to retain the other trees and ensure there be no significant damage to their root systems . Again, all fairly do-able if the relevant engineering expertise is applied. However, what the previous applicant/architect/arboricultural consultant or planner failed to notice (and I list them all as we have no way of knowing where the fault lies) was that there is a 1.5 metre drop between the level of the site, where the trees are, and the adjacent road from where access to the site will be taken. Short of putting in a roadside lift for vehicles entering the site it would not be possible to construct the access route without the loss of at least five trees, if not seven.

Not an easy one to fix, not by any stretch of the imagination.

I really enjoyed applying what I do on a day to day basis in Aberdeenshire in a different location and it always good to spend a day with my dad. The bacon, tomato and avocado toastie for lunch in a lovely little cafe was pretty nice too.

Back on the train in the afternoon in time to catch up with my little family over an early tea before heading back out in the torrential rain, with a whole bundle of files and example leafets, to a community meeting about cycling possibilities in Turriff.