It’s important that our policies are easy to understand, with clear definitions and processes, and that we clearly signpost customers to these policies.
Five customers completed an initial review of our current tree policy and provided valuable feedback and recommendations.
Following the initial review, all customers who subscribed to our Make a Difference newsletter were invited to take part in a short survey to help finalise our customer feedback.
What happened next?
All feedback and recommendations were reviewed, and the following actions were agreed.
| You said | We did |
|---|---|
| It needs to be clearer that trees in gardens are the customer’s responsibility. | Details of garden and tree maintenance are explained to new customers at the point of sign-up. Short-term project: We will provide a ‘caring for your garden’ section on the website, including a link to the policy and useful tips and advice in one of our customer updates to ensure all customers are able to access the information. |
| It’s not clearly explained about cost and charges to customers. | We have amended the policy to make it clearer that customers are responsible for charges unless exceptional circumstances have been identified. A specific cost cannot be included as this would be based on individual cases and various factors considered. |
| The first step would be a call into customer support to arrange a visit from the neighbourhood’s team to discuss your situation. This information will be made clearer on our website. |
We have provided a clearer definition of the word ‘manageable’ and updated the policy to reflect this. |
| Where can I find out how to report an issue with a tree in my garden? It’s not easy to find on the website. | Details of this are on the website under the grounds maintenance section. Long-term project: We will be discussing options with our communications team to create a dedicated page on the website that is easy to navigate and provides advice on caring for your garden, including the maintenance of trees and details of how to report emergencies/safety issues and useful links, including our policy. |
| I am not able to care for the trees in my garden, physically and financially. It’s not clear what I should do. | The first step would be a call into customer support to arrange a visit from the neighbourhood’s team to discuss your situation. This information will be made clearer on our website. |
| Is this the same for sheltered housing tenants? | Communal areas in sheltered schemes are maintained by Selwood Housing. Individual gardens in sheltered schemes are the customer’s responsibility. |
| Trees in communal areas do not appear to be maintained regularly. When does this happen? | Trees are surveyed by our arborist consultants on a rolling programme, based on risk assessment trees are categorised for resurvey either annually, every 2 yrs, 3yrs, 5yrs. Details of this and the QTRA (Quantified Tree Risk Assessment) can be found in the policy. |
Download our tree policy
Tree policyDownload(237.87 KB)
