The contract delivery includes the provision of ongoing arboricultural safety works across the county which we have been completing on behalf of the council for the past 7 years.
The primary focus is on trees presenting potential hazards to heavily trafficked public footpaths and highways alongside regular maintenance work which is often issued in packs as large as 500 trees. All works issued to us is managed inhouse and programmed to ensure timely completion with minimal disruption to the public.
Due to the highly populated areas we work within, we have to ensure that public engagement is maintained throughout the duration of the works. We are required to liaise with interested parties on a regular basis, including community engagement where works may interrupt events taking place or access to properties and businesses. This has included letter drops to properties within the vicinity of scheduled works, contacting local business owners and utilising community Facebook groups to inform the public of upcoming projects. We have also utilised this method to advertise woodchip and timber for schools, allotments and community groups to ensure that the work carried out has a positive impact on the local community.
As part of our operations, we implemented traffic management strategies following the Chapter 8 guidelines, “Traffic Safety Measures and Signs for Road Works and Temporary Situations”. We survey all projects allocated to ourselves to ensure that potential risks and additional requirements are highlighted before our teams attend a worksite. As part of this, our surveyors would specify on various packs if Traffic Management is or isn’t required, from this our office team would seek the appropriate licences for the resources required on set dates.
As part of our most recent contract for Oxfordshire County Council, we undertook the project of planting over 300 trees throughout the county. This involved dealing with members of each parish council to agree the locations of each tree. In a couple of parishes, we took part in community engagement days in which we assisted members of the community with planting their trees in the green spaces and advising them on the ongoing maintenance required.
All works were completed in accordance with BS3998: Recommendations for Tree Work Standards.