A New Beginning
A premise, on Honeywood Parkway in Whitfield, has stood derelict for almost two years after a Homebase retailer had closed down in October 2017. Home Bargains have purchased this plot in order to refurbish and open a brand-new retail store. Encon were instructed to assist them with a Tree Survey, Landscape Design and unit alterations including new cladding and a revised car park ready for their new store to open.
The original drawn up plans that were in place required all 44 trees to be removed from the carpark and front of the store in order to improve the visibility of the store. We avoid removal recommendations for large numbers of trees within site plans for aesthetic reasons. Of course, if the trees in place must be removed for planning purposes for the functionality of the plan, we offer advice on strategy for dealing with their retention or removal, ensuring construction can proceed with the approval of the authorities.
Change of Plans
The original plan proposed by Home Bargains stated that they wished to remove 44 trees. This plan was declined by the local authority as they didn’t believe it was a necessity for this number of trees to be lost. As a result, Home Bargains appointed us for a Tree Survey and Landscape Design, requesting advice and guidance on the trees in place and also landscape design alterations to increase the visibility of the store.
Our Graduate Environmental Consultant, Emily visited the site in Dover to conduct the Tree Survey. Within her report, Emily suggested that in order to mitigate the objections, Home Bargains should re-consider the amount of trees that they wish to remove from their site plans in order to pass their plans with the local authority whilst still achieving their aim objective of increasing the visibility of the store.
Following an in-depth discussion with the client, Emily suggested within her Tree Survey that the client retained 15 of the 44 trees. Unfortunately, 29 trees would still need to be removed. However, to compensate for some of the trees lost, we recommended within the Landscape Design that 12 new trees were to be planted.
This plan has since been accepted by the local authority and the B&M Bargains store in Dover is now under construction.
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