Council does not know how often branches fall
“There are hundreds of thousands of trees in the city.”
Christchurch City Council does not know how often large tree branches – or even whole trees – fall suddenly.
It also does not know what tree species are falling, or shedding branches, or their age.
“We do not capture this specific information,” said urban forest manager Toby Chapman.
The lack of data comes as Christchurch man David Lynch urged the council to conduct an immediate and comprehensive audit of the trees in Hagley Park after he was almost hit by a falling tree branch while recently cycling there.
“The failure of Christchurch City Council to conduct timely and comprehensive audits of the trees within Hagley Park constitutes negligence,” Lynch claimed.
A council arborist inspects Hagley Park trees on a weekly basis, said Andrew Rutledge, the council’s general manager of citizens and communities.
He also said staff would produce a full report to the council into how it manages trees in high pedestrian areas of the city, including Hagley Park.
When the council learns that a tree or large branch has fallen, a contractor is dispatched to eliminate any further risks and tidy up, Chapman said.
The council’s electronic forms for these jobs record only that a tree is involved and the urgency of the situation.
The forms “do not specifically capture whether it is a sudden tree or major limb fall other than in the ‘free text’ field,” Chapman said.
City council official
A “free text field” is an empty box in the electronic form in which a resident, council employee or contractor describes the problem in writing.
The council does not collate this information as it arrives. Doing so now would require going through each individual form.
“There are hundreds of thousands of trees in the city, and hundreds if not thousands of [forms] in our systems that relate to trees,” a council official said.
A number of large trees and branches have fallen in public parts of the city in recent years.
A year ago an American tourist was injured when he was hit by an “absolutely massive” poplar branch while riding along Cambridge Tce opposite the Margaret Mahy playground, while in October a tree in Victoria Park shed a significant limb in strong winds. A large also willow fell suddenly on Park Tce last February. Neither caused damage or injury.
In August 2022 a 30m maritime pine planted in 1870 crushed a parked car on Harper Ave, falling across the road’s two westbound lanes. The vehicle was empty at the time. And in January 2018 a tree fell on a boat of rowers from Shirley Boys’ High School near Porritt Park, sinking it and forcing the teenage rowing coach to dive into the Avon River to rescue them.