The strategy recommends that:

• Local authorities instigate a regime of cyclical pruning of council tree stock in areas predisposed to building movement where this is appropriate.
• Local authorities provide dedicated resources for dealing with subsidence generated claims directed at council owned trees.
• Local authorities instigate a regime of selective removal and replacement of street tree stock in areas predisposed to building movement where this is appropriate.
• Local authorities challenge unwarranted claims based on poorly investigated or inaccurate evidence.

Tree value bandings for low, medium and high trees 2008 - 2009 are as follows:

• Low Value up to £5,576
• Medium Value £5,577 to £18,660
• High Value anything over £18,660

The bandings were established using the following method:

1. The CAVAT value for each tree for the London borough's of Islington, Southwark and Barnet was established.
2. The entire tree list for each borough were then sorted by their value in ascending order – i.e. the cheapest tree at the top of the list and the most expensive at the bottom.
3. The total number of trees was then divided by three to give three equal sized groups – the lowest value trees in the first group, the medium value in the second and the highest value in the third.
4. The highest and lowest value tree in the each group gave the range in value for each group.
5. The highest value in each group from all of the boroughs was then averaged to give the final banding.

For example: there are 100 trees in a borough. The trees are all valued using CAVAT and sorted by value into one list with the cheapest at the top. I look at the 33rd tree in the list to establish the range of the low value group. I look at the 66th tree in the list to establish the top of the range of the medium value etc.

The unit value will be updated here every year and the bandings recalculated.

Click here to view the Risk Limitation Strategy