Corporate & Commercial

Ferbrache & Farrell LLP’s corporate department offers full service corporate, banking and commercial cover and is able to advise on all aspects of Guernsey corporate and commercial law, including banking and finance, regulatory, investment funds, asset management and listings on The International Stock Exchange (TISE).

Latest Insight
11 April 2025
Insight
At F&F LLP Property Teams (Guernsey Property Team & UKRE Team), we understand that purchasing a property is one of the most significant investments you’ll…
Dispute Resolution

The Dispute Resolution department at Ferbrache & Farrell LLP has vast experience of local and international litigation and dispute resolution generally, gained from acting in complex local and international high-value disputes, both in Guernsey and throughout the world.

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20 June 2025
News
This Monday 16 June 2025, the Domestic Abuse and Related Provisions (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 2024 (the Law) came into force, marking a landmark development…
Property

The Guernsey property department is dedicated to providing tailored solutions that meet and exceed clients’ expectations. In addition, the property department provides support to colleagues in the corporate and dispute resolution departments on real estate-related technical points of law.

Latest Insight
04 June 2025
News
Important news for property owners. Some development and building work can be carried out without requiring planning permission, these are known as exemptions. The Guernsey…
UK Real Estate

We are delighted to help in relation to providing legal advice for real estate in England and Wales. We listen. We learn what your needs are. We proactively respond. Whether it’s personal or commercial property, we always provide sound and pragmatic advice, adding value to the transaction.

Latest Insight
07 July 2025
News
Halifax has today released its regular review of the UK housing market. In summary, house prices are flat with growth recorded at 0.0% for June…
Private Client

Our services for private client matters include the drafting of realty and personalty wills, acting as professional executors, and assisting foreign lawyers who have requirements in this jurisdiction.

Latest Insight
11 April 2025
Insight
At F&F LLP Property Teams (Guernsey Property Team & UKRE Team), we understand that purchasing a property is one of the most significant investments you’ll…

Back in 2019, which seems a long time ago now, we wrote an article entitled “Protected Trees on your Guernsey Property”, which looked at the Tree Protection Order (TPO) mechanism in Guernsey planning law.

That position is now set to change.

The Development and Planning Authority has launched a 6-week public consultation period (commencing on 5 February 2021) for public views to be provided upon a revised protection process and which is set out in a twelve page consultation document.  For those readers interested, that document can be accessed here:  https://www.gov.gg/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=136119&p=0

The consultation document reminds us that a significant number of the island’s mature trees were lost to Dutch Elm disease in the 1990s and that woodland cover in the island is only 3.4% compared to a European average of 46%.  Admittedly there are many significant differences between a Guernsey and European woodland comparison, but the point is that the little woodland subsisting here is often worthy of legal protection.

The consultation document recognises that there is no definition of ‘amenity’ in the principal piece of Guernsey planning legislation, and in consequence, it is difficult to achieve consistency in determining what ‘amenity’ means in the realm of tree preservation.  Often, the protection of trees is time critical, and frequent mention is made of ‘expediency’ and contact with the Development and Planning Authority occurring at the earliest possible stage.

As one would expect, an action taken by a public body will need to be transparent, reasoned and defendable. The consultation details at some length an ‘Amenity Value Assessment’ taking into account criteria such as visibility of the tree(s); the trees’ individual impact (such as size/form/rarity/character and appearance); the wider impact the tree(s) may have in the local surroundings; how the tree(s) support biodiversity and ecology; and several other more technical factors.

Given the sheer variety of circumstances that will surround a decision to formally protect a tree, a group of trees or even an area, it is important that the TPO toolkit is flexible and reliant upon expert professional opinion.  That said, it must maintain a fair balance. The grant of a TPO will have an immediate impact upon a landowner’s ability to develop property, and may even in some cases preclude certain development entirely.

It is right and proper that those persons likely to be adversely affected by a proposed TPO should have the opportunity to make formal representations. The consultation document sets out arguments that the Development and Planning Authority can take into account, and conversely, those which it cannot.  It is expected that those submitting views on the consultation document might consider these proposals quite closely.

It will be interesting to follow this process in the course of the next weeks and months, and particularly given the now incontrovertible evidence of the importance of trees in the mitigation of climate change.  We will be pleased to provide further commentary as matters unfold.