Request ID: FOI-0543-2122 Date published: 29 July 2021
You asked
Copies of your tree policies at the time of the damage being discovered in July 2020 or where
to locate said policies if readily accessible in electronic format;
2. A copy of your tree maintenance works carried out to the London Plan trees (referred to as T6
and T7 on the attached plan) under your ownership and control, located to the front of the
above Property between 2010 and 2021, pertaining to but not restricted to recommended
works, extent of works completed and inspections;
3. Confirmation as to whether any complaint has ever been made regarding the T6 and T7
London Plane trees posing a risk or causing property damage and to provide copies of the
correspondence (redacted where necessary).
4. You have previously stated that there have been two claims made for subsidence The number
of tree related subsidence claims from St Mildred’s Road between 2010 and 2021. Could you
please confirm:
4.1 Location of the tree by distance from our clients property or alternatively by address.
4.2 Species of the implicated tree
4.3 The date of the claim made.
We answered
TfL Ref: FOI-0543-2122 Thank you for your revised request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 6 July 2021. Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. I can confirm that we hold some of the information you require. You asked:
Copies of your tree policies at the time of the damage being discovered in July 2020 or where to locate said policies if readily accessible in electronic format;
This is available on the TfL website via the following link https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/about-tfl/green-infrastructure. In accordance with section 21 of the FOI Act, we are not obliged to supply you with a copy of the requested information as it is already accessible to you elsewhere.
A copy of your tree maintenance works carried out to the London Plan trees (referred to as T6 and T7 on the attached plan) under your ownership and control, located to the front of the above Property between 2010 and 2021, pertaining to but not restricted to recommended works, extent of works completed and inspections;
Our tree maintenance report does not detail the specific trees that were maintained on this section of road. However, we can provide the details of tree maintenance report to show what was carried for the section of road A205 Brownhill Road and St Mildreds Road, for anything that took place on St Mildreds Road.
Please find attached two reports, the defect report and the PEMS report. The defect report shows the defects attended in relation to trees that reference the location as St Mildred’s Road. The report dates back to our earliest logged records. This includes all defects identified with description and date and the defect type.
The PEMS report includes details of defects reported through the public enquiry manager with the same criteria as above.
Confirmation as to whether any complaint has ever been made regarding the T6 and T7 London Plane trees posing a risk or causing property damage and to provide copies of the correspondence (redacted where necessary) for 2010 to 2021 inclusive
Our Customer Services can only search complaints about vegetation; it is not possible to pick out T6 and T7 trees specifically as this isn’t a common term that they use. In order to locate any complaints concerning the above trees, someone would have to manually review all vegetation related complaints for the years requested, of which there would be several hundreds, to retrieve and extract them which would be a burdensome task.
To provide this information would exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ of £450 set by the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.
Under section 12 of the FOI Act, we are not obliged to comply with a request if we estimate that the cost of determining whether we hold the information, locating and retrieving it and extracting it from other information would exceed the appropriate limit. This is calculated at £25 per hour for every hour spent on the activities described.
To help bring the cost of responding to your request within the £450 limit, you may wish to consider narrowing its scope so that we can more easily locate, retrieve and extract the information you are seeking. You might consider limiting this part of your request to a shorter period of time.
You have previously stated that there have been two claims made for subsidence The number of tree related subsidence claims from St Mildred’s Road between 2010 and 2021. Could you please confirm:
4.1 Location of the tree by distance from our clients property or alternatively by address. (Client address) 77 St. Mildreds Road, London, SE12 0RE
Please see the attached map.
4.2 Species of the implicated tree
T6 – London Plane Tree T7 – London Plane Tree
4.3 The date of the claim made.
Claim reference 000508-032604-GD-01 was received on 11/01/19.
Claim reference 000508-037631-GD-01 was received on 22/03/21.
If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for any reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.
Yours sincerely Eva Hextall FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
