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The Association of Tree Officers (ATO)
Representing the views and concerns of tree officers nationwide -
The Association of Tree Officers (ATO)
Representing the views and concerns of tree officers nationwide
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Welcome to The Association of Tree Officers Website
The Association of Tree Officers (ATO) will promote, support and represent Tree Officers. Administrative control of ATO will be undertaken by the ATO Directors, supported by the National Co-ordinator, Becky Porter.
Latest News
Building on the success of seven previous events, we’re delighted to announce the National Tree Officers Conference will return on the 7th November 2023.
Proudly hosted by the Association of Tree Officers (ATO), Institute of Chartered Foresters (ICF), London Tree Officers Association (LTOA) and the Municipal Tree Officers’ Association (MTOA), this year’s conference will take place in Reading, Berkshire.
Developed specifically for tree officers, the National Tree Officers Conference is a great opportunity for tree, woodland and planning professionals to present to their peers on the latest research, best practice and innovation across a wide range of local authority arboricultural and urban forestry work.
We’re looking for presentation proposals relating to the following subject areas:
• Pests and diseases
• Planting and species selection
• Climate change mitigation/increasing resilience
• Planning and development
• Ancient/Veteran Tree management
• Biosecurity
• Managing physical damage (e.g. deer, squirrel, dogs, vandalism)
• Public/stakeholder engagement
• Trees and the law
• Local authority tree management (including felling procedures, risk assessment and subsidence)
• Use of tree data for management, information and influence
The above list is not exhaustive – we would welcome any subject of relevance to local authority tree management. Submitting your presentation idea couldn’t be easier – simply email a short description (100–150 words) of your proposed topic, along with a provisional title, to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Submissions will be reviewed by the conference steering group with quality, relevance, practical nature of the material and potential audience appeal as key assessment criteria.
The submission period for presentations is now open and will close on Friday 19th May. If you have any queries regarding the submission process please contact Becky Porter, Executive Officer at the LTOA – This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
It has been announced that the Local Authority Treescapes Fund (LATF) and the Urban Tree Challenge Fund (UTCF) will reopen for new applications early in 2023, with some significant improvements to the funds based on stakeholder feedback. Now in their third and fifth rounds respectively, the reopening of both funds will see trees planted in rural areas (for LATF), as well as in towns and cities nationwide. It represents another step forward in the Government’s drive to treble tree planting rates across England by the end of this Parliament.
In previous rounds, both funds had application windows, but from early 2023 they will now be open year-round to relieve pressure for applicants. In addition to this there have also been individual changes made to the funds.
An exciting development for round 3 of the LATF is that individual applications are now welcomed from Borough, District and City Councils, as well as County Councils, Unitary and Metropolitan Boroughs. Group applications from multiple local authorities are still strongly encouraged, as partnership working maximises the shared benefits for each partner, and groups will therefore score more highly and will be more likely to receive funding.
For UTCF, the recipient previously had to provide match funding of 50%, whereas when it reopens next year, the fund will now pay 80% of standard cost items (such as supply and plant standard tree), meaning recipients will only need to supply 20%. The menu of standard cost items have also been increased to include payment rates for planting in a range of surfaces and undertaking trial pits, and the older multiple funding thresholds for different sizes of grants have been removed (there is now only have a minimum application value of £10,000).
Read more about the changes and find out which fund is right for you in the new FC blog.
ATO Events Calendar
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