The area is to be subject to the Environmental Agency Irwell Vale, Chatterton and Strongstry flood linear defence scheme which will require the trees to be removed in the future to facilitate building the scheme. The environmental issues in the application submitted November 2020 for which your decision notice is referenced TCA 2021/005 remain and the risks associated with the potential dense canopy continue if the new growth is not pruned back to the main scaffold stems therefore the recommendation to mitigate these risks detailed below is to remove this seasons new growth including epicormic growth.T3 is located on the retaining wall of the river bank. T3 has a split stem from the base and then the stem to the north east is further split at approximately 1.2m from ground levelThere is evidence of included bark at the base of the stems indicating a weak union.There is evidence of surface roots to the east and west of the tree along the top of the retaining wall. The river is directly to the north east of the tree and so the likelihood is that the only point for anchor roots are to the south of the tree and, whilst there is no current evidence of root plate movement, the lack of anchorage of the roots is considered to be a risk.In the longer term T3 will be removed due to the Environment Agency flood defence work however in the meantime the management protocol for the tree is to minimize the risk of the anchor roots failing and causing damage to the wall by continuing to reduce the weight of the canopy by removing this seasons new growth ie "water shoots" including epicormics growth

5 Chapel Terrace Irwell Vale Ramsbottom Bury BL0 0QW