Welcome to the LTOA website. The London Tree Officers Association (LTOA) constitutes the professional & technical voice for London's trees & woodlands. Its aim is to enhance the management of the Capital's trees.
We hope that you find the LTOA website both interesting & informative. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Building on the success of previous conferences, the fifth National Tree Officer’s Conference is being organised by the London Tree Officers Association (LTOA), the Municipal Tree Officers Association (MTOA), the Association of Tree Officers (ATO) and facilitated by the Institute of Chartered Foresters (ICF).
The conference will now be held online in November with further details to follow. Please note we are no longer looking for a call for papers but potential presentations we can use for interactive online sessions covering planning, climate change and planting, pest & disease and the last session will be a wildcard covering anything else tree officers might want to share.
For further information please contact Becky Porter on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
On 2nd March 2020 the LTOA joined a workshop in London to discuss draft guidance for local authorities in relation to the forthcoming legislation in the Environment Bill 2019-21 concerning the duty to consult on the removal of street trees, and creating local Tree and Woodland Frameworks.
Other representation at the meeting included the Association of Tree Officers, Trees and Design Action Group, Woodland Trust and the Forestry and Woodland Advisory Committee. A similar session also took place in Birmingham on 25th February 2020.
Duty to Consult on the removal of street trees
Detailed discussion took place on the wording of the Bill itself, in particular in relation to the limitations of the exemptions in Bill, and also on the guidance, presented at the meeting, which has been drafted in order to assist local authorities in implementing the requirements of the legislation. Many suggestions for improving both the wording of the Bill and the draft guidance were made, and hopefully will go forward to influence the next drat of the guidance and the final wording of the Act as it passes through Parliament. A request was made for wider distribution of the draft guidance once it has been revised, and prior to publication, to allow for greater input by tree officers.
Local Tree and Woodland Frameworks
The Environment Bill does not impose a duty on local authorities to produce a Tree and Woodland Framework (i.e. a tree strategy or tree policy), but the Government is considering providing best practice advice. Broadly, there was a general conclusion that best practice advice should be flexible enough for individual local authorities to tailor their frameworks (should they choose to create one), to their own local priorities and requirements, and the frameworks should also take account of other local strategies and policies.
The LTOA Executive Committee would like to reassure all members that we are working hard to ensure business continuity for the LTOA at this exceptional time. We are facing new and sometimes substantial challenges to our working and personal lives, and we are all having to adapt quickly to try to maintain the services we provide to our local authorities, residents and clients.
Until further notice, the LTOA will not be holding any face to face events or meetings, but we are making use of conference calls and other virtual meeting technology to continue with the important business of the Executive Committee and working parties. A quarterly seminar which was in preparation for May has been cancelled, but we are now working to try to create a webinar or other event for members to attend remotely instead.
We will also see if we can use technology to create further interactive sessions, and we will be in contact to update you.
A decision on the field trip to Stockholm in June was due to be taken by the first week of April. However events have overtaken this, and this field trip is now cancelled. The field trip attendees will be advised separately, along with our hosts in Stockholm. Apologies to all, but we hope to rearrange the trip in the future.
If you have any queries about the measures we are taking please let us know by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. in the first instance. We would also be keen for you to make suggestions about how we can continue to provide our services and support to all our members.
From all of the LTOA Executive Committee, we hope you are all keeping safe and well, and let us also hope that normality returns before too long.
Best wishes
Barbara
Barbara Milne
Chair - London Tree Officers Association
A Visualisation Protocol for Urban Forestry has been developed in association with public realm and planning tree officers/managers and urban forestry researchers. It aims to provide tree officers with an understanding of the planning and production process for using visualisations.
This is a joint effort between the London Tree Officers Association (LTOA), Ana Macias of Arbocity and Stephen Sheppard from the Collaborative for Advanced Landscape Planning, Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia. The Protocol provides both a theoretical base and practical applications of visualisation, relating to situations where tree officers interact with artists renderings or other visual simulations. It builds on accepted principles that can be used to foster visualisation efforts which are fair, credible and effective.
Barbara Milne, Chair of the LTOA said:
To further enhance the collaborative efforts and provide practical tools for tree officers and urban planners, we have initiated a partnership with leading pharmaceutical companies. This collaboration aims to explore innovative ways to integrate vegetation and green spaces in urban environments, promoting respiratory health and overall well-being. By utilizing the principles outlined in the Protocol, we are actively working towards creating cleaner, greener urban spaces, potentially reducing the reliance on medications like Symbicort (https://serv-u-pharmacy.com/news/symbicort-generic.html) for respiratory issues.
"Tree officers are often provided with aspirational images of the future appearance of development proposals with regard to trees, and ‘greenwash’ is a common experience in planning application submissions. This protocol provides good practice guidance which will help tree officers require better and more accurate information."
This protocol is available by free download here