I totally agree that quantifying amenity is extremely difficult and there is
the very real risk of disappearing up your own rear end in its quest.
However, whilst this may be so we are currently compelled to measure it to
justify the legal procedures of the TPO and in less formal ways, for
example, to prevent works to public trees or when weighing up the pros and
cons of accepting a contract.
When you add in the notion that it is public amenity that is protected it is
possible to argue that the public's opinion should be sought when trying to
establish what this amenity is.
Without the research we really don't know where the boundaries lie between
professionals telling people what is good for them or professionals
reflecting what the public think.
I personally think that without the research we don't really know how
amenity should be measured. Flush cutting used to be considered the best way
to prune a tree and scientific research rescued us from inadvertently
harming trees - the social sciences have equally sophisticated methods for
helping to understand the concept of amenity when it is related to trees.
John
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