4.42

Additional Background paragraph needed to require a Trees and Woodland Strategy to be prepared by CDC, subjected to public consultation, and adopted as a Supplementary Planning Document that will make it a material planning consideration, so as to enable delivery of the net gain in tree cover aspect of Strategic Objective 2 and ensure that the spatial distribution of that net gain reflects the aspirations of the Plan as a whole.
I do not know how best to word/include this.

Legally compliant/duty to co-operate - don't know.
Sound: Strategic Objective 2 (following para. 2.51) includes to achieve net gains in tree cover, which we have supported in this Submission Draft. This cannot be achieved without an understanding of existing tree cover and how that differs across the Local Plan area (both in different rural landscapes and different urban communities - typically higher tree cover is found in more affluent/expensive areas and lower tree cover correlates to higher deprivation and, in our experience of Chichester City parish area, less protection/tree planting). The aspiration for greater tree cover is not mentioned in either Background paragraphs 4.41 or 4.42 or Policy NE8, where it needs to be (nor I think in other policies where there are references to trees, hedgerows and woodland).
Natural England’s National Framework of Green Infrastructure Standards (launched January 2023, referenced in one line at para. 6.81 of this Plan) includes an Urban Tree Canopy Cover (UTCC) Standard intended to increase UTCC “by an agreed percentage based on a local defined baseline and considering local needs, opportunities and constraints” (page 17, https://designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk/GreenInfrastructure/downloads/Design Guide - Green Infrastructure Framework.pdf ). A Trees and Woodland Strategy Toolkit ( https://treecouncil.org.uk/what-we-do/science-and-research/tree-strategies/#1669729165445-ac6bc64e-229e ) was published in December 2022 by DEFRA with the Forestry Commission and the Tree Council (the charity that runs the national volunteer Tree Warden scheme of which Chichester Tree Wardens are part) pursuant to the England Trees Action Plan published in May 2021.
West Sussex County Council has a West Sussex Tree Plan, published December 2020, which focusses on WSCC-owned trees but "also seeks to influence how the wider tree resource within the County is managed and improved" (para. 1.3).
In the absence of CDC resources having already been invested in a Tree and Woodland Strategy (TaWS) for the Plan Area to achieve the tree cover aspirations of Strategic Objective 2, the Plan needs to make provision for a TaWS to be prepared, subjected to public consultation, and adopted as a Supplementary Planning Document that will make it a material planning consideration. The TaWS should ensure that the spatial distribution of net gain in tree cover reflects the aspirations of the Plan as a whole. (The amenity value/ecosystem services of trees, including woodlands and hedgerows, vary according to where they are growing - rural trees are no substitute for trees in urban areas where they improve the lives of many people on a daily basis.)