DEVELOPMENT chiefs have been forced to deny they use tree protection measures on ‘a whim’ as an excuse to reject applications.

Durham County Council’s planning department recommended plans for a home extension in Hatfield Place, Peterlee, be turned down after they placed Tree Protection Orders (TPOs) on three sycamores on the site earlier this year.

But councillors chose to dismiss the advice and instead approved the proposals, which will also see a plot of ‘public open space’ converted into a private garden for the house.

Councillor Audrey Laing, who represents Peterlee East, said: “I say the TPO has been put in purely so the planning officers have grounds to object to this application.”

Coun Laing was speaking at Tuesday’s meeting of the county council’s planning committee for central and East Durham.

Coun Laing is usually a full member of the panel, but excused herself from voting after making her submission. and had also been lobbied by the applicant, named in paperwork as Darrell Harris.

A TPO is supposed to stop a tree being cut down or altered in any way without permission from the local authority and was thought necessary due to the trees’ ‘high amenity value’ and the ‘detrimental impact’ their loss would have on the area.

Principal planning officer Alan Dobie said: “We investigated further with the tree officer, who had concerns about the loss of the trees and who then decided they warranted protecting. These decisions are carefully thought through and there’s a formal scoring system for trees.”