Claim tree protection order would ‘restrict or prevent’ replacement custody building for cell-less court

The lack of custody cells at Wrexham Magistrates’ Court is set to continue if councillors take council officers advice to protect trees, however another route is suggested to enable the development that would likely see the trees removed.

Plans are in place to build a new custody building attached to the courts, however four trees located near the court building and would need to be cut down in order for construction work on the cells to begin. Previously one was thought to be at risk, however a further three trees have also now been proposed for removal by the developer.

As we have long documented until the new facilities are built, all custodial cases are being dealt with in Mold rather than Wrexham – causing a great deal of inconvenience to witnesses, victims of crime and local solicitors, as well as defendants. Such a move is seen by some as threatening the future of courts in the town during a climate of cuts by the Ministry of Justice.

The Courts Service themselves have gone a step further, saying they see the replacement cells as a ‘necessary requirement’ for the courts, and if development is blocked it would have ‘a detrimental impact upon the provision of service to be provided by the courts with further potential negative consequences for local economy’.

In a special agenda item at the Planning Committee meeting on the 4th of March councillors are recommended to “confirm without modification” the tree preservation orders (TPO) for the site, with the ‘Officers considered opinion’ being given as the basis for it.

The report before councillors notes: “Consisting of nineteen individual specimens and one group of three trees, the TPO was initially made and served to protect the trees from any inappropriate management or premature and unjustified felling operations.”

Several other trees are indicated to be at risk from various developments planned nearby: “It is considered that a significant proportion, if not all of the identified trees within the Order, are at risk from excessive root damage or complete felling and removal as a direct result of the multiple developments proposed for land affecting the existing Law Courts and the soon to be demolished Police Headquarters.

“The TPO will ensure that the trees are retained and protected whilst being afforded appropriate consideration during the determination of any such development proposal. ”

The below plan shows the individual positioning of the trees (green dots, red dots are building labels) with a note that some trees appear destined to be destroyed are are not protected: “A number of trees at risk from potential development are located on Council land situated between the Law Courts and the Memorial Hall.

“The required removal of these eight trees was agreed in principle with developers prior to the making of the TPO on the single condition that suitable mitigation is to be provided. Consequently, it was not considered appropriate to consider the eight Council owned trees for inclusion within the TPO.”

Five other trees are also likely to be removed to make space for the custody suite, and are not under a TPO, but there is a requirement for ‘mitigation planting’ to maintain both amenity and cumulative canopy cover.

The report states one formal objection has been received by Wrexham Council on behalf of Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Services, that states ‘multiple concerns’ that the legal protection and subsequent retention of the trees included within the TPO ‘would restrict or prevent the proposed development of the new custody suite and access road’.

The Officer notes his response to the objection, pointing to a different path to get the desired outcome, “…should a Local Planning Authority such as Wrexham Borough Council grant consent for a full planning application, such consent would override any relevant Tree Preservation Order, provisional or confirmed, which may be present on the associated site at that time; consequently any protected trees which then require removal to facilitate development may then be removed by the applicant accordingly.

“The concerns expressed … with regards to the trees as a material constraint to development should be addressed by the Council during the determination of any such planning application rather than through the confirmation process of a Tree Preservation Order which simply seeks to discuss and make permanent a Tree Preservation Order and nothing more”

A later note explains that with a TPO in place on trees that are removed in a development granted in such a full planning application, that then creates a mechanism that would allow the Council to ‘enforce’ replacement planting.

With Wrexham Council’s utterly terrible enforcement of the trees and shrub requirements at the ‘Wrexham Village’ student flats development, it remains to be seen if and when that would actually happen. (You can revisit this here and here).

The TPO was issued in July 2017 and served on ‘all interested parties’. In a letter to the council on the topic in December local MP Ian Lucas notes ‘indifference, ignorance and incompetence at every stage’ adding: “I am deeply upset that neither Wrexham Council, North Wales Police nor HMCTS saw fit to resolve the issue of custody provision at Wrexham Magistrates Court before now.

“This is, in my view, grossly negligent, as we now have a major barrier to the future of Wrexham having a fully functioning court because a practical issue was not resolved at an appropriate time.”

The long foreseeable issue is not the first relating to the potential new custody building. In January 2018 we reported on the planning application for the new cell block complete with fair use public interest copies of the images of the plans as placed for public comment on Wrexham Council’s website.  Several months after we published that, we were contacted by Interserve Construction asking to remove planning images as they were “seen as a serious breach of MOJ and HMCTS security”.

The images were from the public planning application documents circulated by Wrexham Council, which appear to have since been replaced by redacted versions.

We did enquire at that point how long the gap between police station closure and new cell construction would be, however have yet not had a response.

Below is the proposed new site plan, we don’t think this is top secret: