Tree plan typical of intrusive behaviour

Jun 26 2008 by Peter Jackson, The Journal

HOMEOWNERS will have to pay for regular examinations of their garden trees, if the British Standards Institution (BSI) gets its way.

It proposes that tree owners should have an annual ‘walk-by’ inspection, a check by a ‘trained person’ every three years and a more rigorous – and expensive – ‘expert inspection’ by a qualified arboriculturist every five years.

The purpose of this is, or course, health and safety, in the interests of which tree owners will have to pay for these regular inspections, which might cost anything between £70 and £200 a time.

It is depressing but not surprising. The BSI is a bureaucratic body and, as such, seeks to enlarge the scope of its powers.

What is equally unsurprising and depressing is that, in the vox pop which accompanied this news item on the radio, members of the public generally welcomed the idea.

It was not greeted as a joke, nor as yet another manifestation of the state and its organs intruding into every aspect of life, nor as a further financial imposition on increasingly hard-pressed homeowners.

Indeed, one gentleman questioned said it was a good idea because it would make things – trees presumably – more orderly and safer.

Never mind that, on average, only six people in the UK are killed every year by falling trees, or that such a measure would lead to the felling of thousands of trees.

No, the main thing is that nothing should go unregulated and all risk must be eliminated from the world.

I wish David Davis well in his one- man campaign for civil liberties but I fear that if the general lack of concern over tree inspections is anything to go by then he has his work cut out.

But, you could prove me wrong. The BSI says the public is able to comment on its proposal, which it hopes will come into force early next year, by visiting the website drafts.bsigroup.com

You have until July 31 to do so and, unless you are worried by the disorderliness and dangers which trees represent, then I strongly urge that you do.

You will be ignored but you may well have the satisfaction of feeling that you have at least registered a small protest against Britain’s nanny state