A preservation order has been confirmed to protect a number of oak, silver birch, willow and cherry trees growing at Crawley College.
Crawley Borough Council placed the order in March but received an objection from the Chichester College Group (CCG), which runs the site.
As such, the matter had to be decided during a meeting of the planning committee on Tuesday (August 27).
The objection said the CCG was ‘disappointed’ that no concerns about tree preservation had been raised during years of discussions about its master-plan to refurbish, redevelop and reinvest in the college site.
That reinvestment has included a STEM centre, which opened in 2020, and a Sussex & Surrey Institute of Technology centre, which was approved by the council last year and is due to open in August 2025.
In a letter to the council, the CCG said it was concerned that the preservation order could mean the master-plan could not be delivered – especially planned work to expand the Institute of Technology centre into an area which is currently occupied by four English oak trees.
The CCG asked that the preservation order be changed to include only one of the oak trees.
But the committee chose to leave the order as was.
It covers six individual trees – four oak, a cherry and a weeping willow – and three groups made up of two oak, three silver birch, and four oak respectively.
The committee was told that the preservation order would ensure the trees could not be felled without permission – though the college could still apply to do so.
Also, should planning permission be received for future development, that would take precedence over the preservation order.
Kim Jaggard (Con, Maidenbower) said the preservation order was ‘absolutely vital’, describing the trees as ‘very significant’.
