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Outlines the laws which protect historic buildings and describes legal responsibilities that may arise from tree ownership. Examines both how ancient buildings and trees are protected, citing legislation and Preservation Orders. Explores the value of trees, and provides an extensive appendix of information from the Arboricultural Association in the form of a formula for assessing the amenity value of trees in monetary terms. Details the harm that trees can cause, and the legal responsibilities for damage caused by overhanging branches, trees adjacent to the highway, outgrowing roots, trees in parks and gardens and by poisonous trees.

The purpose of this paper is to critically explore the historical background and current approach of the most common statutory instrument to maintain green landscapes in private residential gardens in cities and townships in suburban New South Wales (NSW), Australia.

The narrative presents a transdisciplinary study. While its emphasis is on law and town planning, it also encompasses local government and legal history while touching upon environmental management and ecological science. This panoply of areas reflects the sheer complexity of the topic. While the presentation is initially descriptive, it moves on to a critique of the NSW Government's recent statutory approach.

The paper demands that further attention must be paid to improving the design and architecture of statutory plans and underlying policies to not only improve urban biodiversity but also retain, as far as practicable, the visual beauty of the suburban landscape. This means reliance on local government to devise their own acceptable approaches. Flexibility rather than rigidity is warranted.

The amount of scholarly material on this topic is relatively rare. The majority of information relies on excellent on-ground research and experience on the part of local experts, namely council employees and consultants. Academic and practical material must be drawn together to improve biodiversity conservation at both the local and regional spheres.

The purpose of this paper is to establish a methodology by which the impact of trees may be assessed in rights of light cases.

By considering the available technologies and theoretical modelling, the research demonstrated that the loss of daylight resulting from the existence of trees can be evaluated to a reasonable degree such that their effect in rights of light cases may be taken into account by the courts.

The extent of obstruction to daylight that is caused by trees changes from season to season, i.e. trees grow in height and/or width and deciduous trees tend to lose their leaves during the winter. Measurement of the trees should occur during winter months and reasonable approximations can be made.

Further research is advisable to provide a more complete compendium of tree types and to build a reliable database of transparency values and rights of light software will need to be modified to simplify the calculation process.

The consideration of trees in rights of light cases may be very significant. A dominant owner may be more affected by a proposed development if part of their light is already obstructed by trees and a servient owner may have an argument that existing trees cause a significant obstruction which might, in the right circumstances, reduce or remove the actionability of their proposals.

This research will have considerable benefit to anyone contemplating rights of light involving obstruction by trees.

This is the first time that the use of BRE transparency factors for trees has been considered in connection with rights of light.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an annual update on case law relating to compulsory purchase and compensation.

Researching decisions made by the Court of Appeal and Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) in the field of compensation. Commentary on the legal and valuation implications of a selection of those cases is provided.

In the last year, there have been a number of interesting cases concerning residual valuations, blight caused by HS2, and Tree Preservation Orders.

The research is limited by the case law available in the last 12 months and this has been a relatively quiet year.

The commentary should assist practitioners to formulate claims for compensation having regard to recent developments in case law.

Its originality and value lies in the fact that it is based on recent legal decisions which have not yet been widely reported.

In the UK, responses to intense weather events regarding national and regional level perils include the support of a General Insurance policy at the address level as part of private residential and other insurance policies covering the key risks of flooding, subsidence and windstorm. In respect of the subsidence peril, dry summers can lead to many thousands of properties on shrinkable clay soils suffering differential downward movement as water is abstracted from the soil by vegetation. These events are forecast to increase in frequency and severity due to climate change, with costs for a dry event year of more than £500m to UK insurers. Assessing the character of these event years can inform government, local government, insurers and their agents as to the typical characteristics of an event year and its impacts. The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive overview of the 2018 UK subsidence event year as it relates to trees and low rise buildings.

The research material is taken from claims that originated within the period commencing in the Summer of 2018, which in the UK was dry and with high levels of claim notification, and is from the private database of Property Risk Inspection Limited, one of the largest UK specialist subsidence claims handling businesses.

The data clearly illustrates the wide range of vegetative species causing or contributing to claims in the UK, their age ranges, sizes and conditions, management options and the range of land uses and statutory controls that exist in relation to title and other boundaries.

There have been various small-scale studies looking at individual cases of subsidence and the impacts of vegetation, but there have been no detailed investigations of large-scale claims-driven events such as the 2018 surge. The importance of this population-level investigation will only increase given the modelling for increased hot and dry summers over the coming decades.

Highlights the importance, when undertaking survey work, of being aware of the potential damage to property from encroachment by tree roots. Reviews the general principles and legislation, citing specific cases of liability for damage, the question of foreseeability, other contributory factors and remedies.

Sustainable drainage (SUDS) techniques seek to address problems associated with excess water quantity, poor water quality, and attempt to improve environmental quality. SUDS have also been proposed as suitable for adapting to and mitigating climate change. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the contribution of SUDS to carbon mitigation for a local planning authority.

Carbon sequestration rates of SUDS techniques were obtained from published literature. A Geographical Information System was used to identify potential sites for future SUDS implementation across the area covered by a local planning authority, Coventry, UK. The carbon mitigation potential of different SUDS techniques was estimated, taking account of land cover and land use limitations on new build and retrofit implementation.

Vegetated SUDS in new developments and retrofit green roofs provided the greatest potential for carbon storage in this urban setting.

This study undertook a rapid assessment of the carbon mitigation that SUDS offers in an urbanised environment. The impact of factors such as greenhouse gas emissions from SUDS devices, management regimes and embedded carbon in engineered structures was not taken into account. The mitigation potential of associated shading and insulation by vegetated SUDS was not evaluated.

Retrofit of, for example, green roofs should be prioritised to take advantage of SUDS for climate change mitigation. The relatively low level of carbon stored over a 15‐year analysis period compared to the scale of forecast emissions revealed the extent of carbon mitigation challenges facing Coventry.

This study provides a methodology to evaluate the carbon mitigation potential of SUDS in an urban setting. Current UK legislative and regulatory emphasis focuses on new build. However, retrofit approaches appear to offer greater potential for carbon sequestration.

Identifies the information available from searches of the Local Land Charges Register (LLCR) and the duty of local authorities to supply information and copies of relevant documents. Describes the means of obtaining further information about properties from local authorities whether by means of standard enquiry forms or separate requests for information. Considers the duty of local authorities to reply to such enquiries. Includes a summary of the different parts of the LLCR, and details of the standard enquiries covered in the new enquiry form CON 29.