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Winter 2018 21
Finding the trees from the wood Have you ever wondered if that silver birch outside your home is protected? Now it’s easier to find out thanks to our new web mapping service. This is part of the suite of improvements under our 21st Century Council programme giving you the freedom to access our services at times convenient to you. Trees across the Borough are protected in several ways. Those growing in Conservation Areas are protected, as are those covered by Tree Preservation Orders (TPOs). By using our new web map, you can check online whether or not trees are in a Conservation Area or if they have a TPO. You get your answers within seconds, rather than having to come in and see us. A TPO can cover a single tree, a group of them, or an entire woodland (including self-seeded saplings). There are thousands of protected trees in the Borough, and TPOs protect a wide variety of native trees and also non-native ornamental species. Their ages range from a few years to many hundreds. Conveyancing solicitors will benefit because TPOs will be referenced in land searches. And prospective buyers can find out if there’s a TPO on a property before they buy it. More information: www.wokingham.gov.uk (search ‘TPOs’)
IT’S ALL IN THE PLANNING As part of our 21st Century Council programme we’ve upgraded the planning service on our website, allowing you to do far more online. There are now two new mapping facilities on there – one for planning applications and the other for constraints such as flood risk or listed buildings. This means you can search for history or constraints without needing to talk to a Planning Officer. And you can even run a constraints check by simply drawing a line around the site you’re interested in. The new online form for pre-application requests makes it easier to submit, and helps you check what we’ll need before you do. The planning application search page now gives you more choices when searching for an application. If you submit a comment about an application it will now appear on the website much faster, and you can also check if any comments have been made about your own. Because of these technological changes helping you do far more, Planning Officers are now freed up to focus on processing planning applications. If you still need to contact us about a planning matter you can do this during office hours over the phone or have a web-chat with one of our Customer Delivery Officers. More information: www.wokingham.gov.uk (search ‘planning applications’)
