Charters Road Closure between 21.00 hours and 06:00 each day
from Monday 11th to Wednesday 20th January 2016
Charters Road from its junction with the A30 London road north westwards to its junction with Dry Arch Road, and Dry Arch road for its entire length. Reason: to facilitate Openreach works access to underground structure – new customer connection.
Alternative Routes for southbound users via Rise Road, B383 Broomhall Lane and A30 London Road. For northbound users, the diversion will be by this route reversed.
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We are pleased to post up the news release on Blacknest Park which vindicates all the work of the residents in making known their objection to the removal of trees on the site. Well done also to RBWM legal team for persevering through the courts.
Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead
News Release 10.12.2015
Trees must be replaced at Blacknest Park
The owners of Blacknest Park in Ascot will have to replace the trees they cut down at the woodland site following an unsuccessful appeal to the Court of Appeal.
Distinctive Properties (Ascot) Limited, a development company, bought the 6.4 hectare site close to Virginia Water in 2010. In about April or May 2012 an area of about 0.8 hectares was clear-felled, despite there being a tree preservation order (TPO) in place. This TPO expressly requires the consent of the Royal Borough before any tree removal can take place.
As a result the Royal Borough issued a tree replacement notice (TRN) on 15 January 2014 to secure the reinstatement of the woodland in the area concerned. This required the landowner to plant 1,280 trees in total including alder, willow, English oak and beech.
On 15 August 2014 the planning inspector upheld the council’s decision to issue the TRN.
Distinctive Properties appealed to the High Court and then the Court of Appeal but both appeals have now been dismissed.
This final hearing at the Court of Appeal took place on Tuesday 17 November and the judgment was delivered on Tuesday 8 December.
Distinctive Properties’ appeal was based on their disputation of the number, as there were only 27 tree stumps visible. The Royal Borough countered that the area had been clear-felled with much of the woodland burnt or disposed of and the figure of 1,280 was a reasonable estimate.
The company’s appeal to the court was based on the inclusion of saplings in this number, but Lord Justice Jackson, Lady Justice Gloster and Sir David Keene agreed that woodland includes saplings and small trees and the council was correct to include them in the count.
The owners now have to comply with the terms of the Tree replacement notice.
