Council to replace hazardous tree

Horsham Rural City Council will remove a hazardous tree in the centre of Horsham’s Bradbury Car Park and plant a replacement tree in autumn.

Council infrastructure director John Martin said the organisation was responding to risks for car park users, following damage to vehicles from fallen limbs.

He said the large lemonscented gum was regarded as a significant tree and the council had explored all options to save it.

“The tree has been assessed twice by a council arborist and once by an independent arborist, who all recommended removal of the tree or exclusion of vehicles and pedestrians,” he said.

“Excluding pedestrians and vehicles from the area is not an option as the area required to be fenced would include up to 16 parking bays and at least one traffic lane would also need to be closed.

“Tree cabling, in which limbs in danger of falling are tied back to the trunk, is also not likely to be effective as even the smaller limbs that have fallen from this tree, and which are not suitable for cabling, are up to 100 millimetres in diameter.

“Taking into account the height they fall from and their weight, they could cause a catastrophic incident.

“Lopping the tree to the degree necessary would damage the structural integrity of the tree and potentially create a greater risk of large parts of the tree falling.”

Mr Martin said a suitable replacement tree would be planted in autumn when conditions were suitable.

“This will be a rose gum, Angophora Costata, which is a large, wide and spreading tree that will grow to a height of between 15 metres and 25 metres,” he said.

“In time, this will provide excellent shade for car park users.”