HSB43 - Tree Safety: Inspection and remedial work (All Schools, October 2014)

I note that the Council's website directs information requests to an online form and does not publish a dedicated email address for this purpose. I am making this request by email under section 8(2) of the Act, which provides that a request is made in writing where its text is transmitted by electronic means, received in legible form and capable of being used for subsequent reference. If this is not the correct mailbox, please forward it to the appropriate team and treat it as received on the date of this email.

I understand the Council to hold a document titled "HSB43 - Tree Safety: Inspection and remedial work (All Schools, October 2014)".

1. Formal adoption

Please confirm whether that document has been formally adopted by the Council. If it has, please provide:

  - the date on which it was adopted;

  - the decision-making body that adopted it, for example Cabinet, Full Council, a named committee, or a delegated officer decision; and

  - a copy of the relevant minute, decision notice or officer decision record.

If the document was issued at officer level rather than by a member decision, please confirm that this is the case and provide the record of its approval. If it has not been formally adopted, please confirm its status, for example whether it is a draft, was approved only for consultation, or operates as internal guidance.

If a later document has superseded the one named above, I should be grateful if you would treat this request as relating to the current version and tell me what has replaced it.

To assist you in locating the information and to keep the cost of compliance down, I should explain what I have already checked. I have searched the Council's committee system at lincolnshire.moderngov.co.uk, which holds the Highway Tree Survey Inspection Procedure (document s11976) and the Trees and Woodland Planting Strategy 2024-2034 (document s64699), but I have found nothing relating to HSB43. The bulletin itself, issued to all schools in October 2014, names no approving body and carries no adoption statement or version control.
 

Thank you for your request for an internal review.

We acknowledge that we did not provide a substantive response to your original request within the required timeframe, and we apologise for this.

Your original request was referred to multiple service areas within the Council in an effort to establish the status of the document and identify any information held in relation to its approval or adoption.

The document referred to is a bulletin that was sent to schools to inform them of a one-off activity to assess their trees and to remind them that responsibility for tree safety remained with the schools following the initial inspection. The bulletin is no longer current, and responsibility for trees remains with individual schools.

The document was not formally adopted by the Council and, as a result, no recorded information relating to its formal adoption or approval is held.