The seminar was aimed at local authority planning officers to help raise their awareness of the issues surrounding development near trees and to generate a more considered approach to the detail they requested prior to validation of a planning application.

Darlington's senior arboricultural officer, Phil Haynes, said the ECL presentation "helped to clarify the issues of tree protection and gave many of the planner's present a reason to reassess their own policies and practices... the necessity for greater arboricultural involvement from the outset of developments is critical if we are to improve tree retention and protection within sites, especially tricky infill sites with added pressures of space and screening".