DRAFT LETTER (to arrive a DPES by 16 May 2006)

E-mail:

Mr Lindsay Frost
Director of Planning & Environmental Services
Southover House
Southover Road
Lewes
East Sussex BN7 1AB

Dear Mr Frost

Town & Country Planning Act 1990
Town & Country Planning (Trees) Regulations 1999
Phoenix Causeway, Lewes - Tree Preservation Order (No 1) 2006,
Tree Preservation Order (No 4) 2006

We are writing in support of these two provisional Orders made on 7 April 2006 and ask that the Council should confirm them.

In respect of Tree Preservation Order (No 1) 2006, we note that it has been placed on two groups of trees, G 1 and G2, with a gap in between. We understand that the gap has been left on the grounds that there are no trees there but only shrubs. There are, in fact, trees in that area, back from the road and on the edge of the Phoenix Industrial Estate and of similar types to those included in the Order. The provisional order has been made on the basis that the trees in G1 and G2 'contribute to the visual amenities of the area'.

We ask that when confirming Order (No 1) the Council should extend the area it covers by closing the gap to include the trees between G1 and G2. We ask this on the following grounds. The trees in G1, G2 and the gap between them:

• are established trees
• are an important visual amenity
• are home to a wide variety of native and locally valued species of birds (including three on the RSPB Red List) and provide shelter and food to a variety of other wildlife.
• provide a fundamental buffer against pollution and noise.

Signed…