BACKGROUND AND EXPERIENCE 

I have been fully employed in forestry and arboriculture since 1980, and have experience of both disciplines at manual and managerial levels in the UK and abroad.

POSTS HELD

  • Forest Worker - Forestry Commission, Forest of Ae, South Scotland Conservancy. 
  • Forest Supervisor - Economic Forestry Group, Eskdalemuir, Dumfriesshire. 
  • Forest Officer - Forestry Commission, South Kintyre District, West Scotland.
  • Arborist - Hampshire County Council. 
  • Forest Operations Manager - Guyana Forestry Commission (VSO Posting).
  • Arboricultural Officer - London Borough of Wandsworth.
  • Tree and Landscape Officer - Lewes District Council, East Sussex.
  • Self-employed arboricultural consultant since 1996. Based in East Sussex from 1996 to 2009 and in Scottish Borders from 2009 to present. 

QUALIFICATIONS AND ACCREDITATIONS

  • Diploma in Forestry, Scottish School of Forestry, Inverness 1986
  • Chartered Arboriculturist (MICFor.) - Institute of Chartered Foresters via Assessed Professional Competence 2017.
  • Arboricultural Association Professional Member (M.Arbor.A.), and Scottish Branch Secretary from 2016 - 2019. 
  • Registered Consultant of the Institute of Chartered Foresters 2017 - 2025. 

Since 1996 I have been a self-employed arboricultural consultant, working primarily in development and safety surveys/risk management. I have carried out over two thousand pre-development tree surveys for sites ranging from single-storey kitchen extensions to large scale, multi-use, multi-occupancy developments and a similar number of tree safety surveys for a wide range of private and commercial clients. In addition, I have extensive experience of giving expert witness evidence at planning appeals and Public Inquiries. 

Development projects include;

  • MOD Project Allenby/Connaught - I carried out all the preliminary tree surveys for the redevelopment of Aldershot and five garrisons across Salisbury Plain in 2003 for Aspire Defence, working on behalf of Derek Lovejoy Partnership (DLP).  aspiredefence.co.uk/project-allenby-connaught/
  • Ascot Racecourse - I was the arboricultural consultant and works supervisor throughout the redevelopment of Ascot Racecourse from initial surveys in 1999 through to final re-opening in 2006. At the time. it was the largest construction project in the UK apart from Heathrow T5. Again, it was on behalf of Derek Lovejoy Partnership. www.turnberryuk.com/projects/sport-stadia/ascot-racecourse/

Surveys have also been carried out for Metropolitan Police, NHS, Sainsbury's, Tesco Stores Ltd., Q8 Petroleum, Windsor Racecourse, Brands Hatch Motor Racing Circuit, Scottish Woodlands Ltd., Scottish Enterprise, and numerous Local Authorities including Scottish Borders Council, North Lanarkshire Council, Renfrewshire Council and The City of Edinburgh Council.

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