Councillor raises questions around tree felling process
A NEWLY elected councillor has clashed with his local authority over the mass felling of trees on a busy roundabout.
Councillor Tristan Learoyd was told by Redcar and Cleveland Council that trees on the Quarry Lane roundabout, which is on the A174 to the south of Marske, were infected with ash dieback disease and needed to come down immediately as they were a danger to life.
The council said it had a duty to inspect and fell unsafe and dying trees suffering from the fungus that causes trees to be at risk of collapse and decisions to take down trees “are never taken lightly”.
Cllr Learoyd, who represents the Liberal Democrats in the St Germains ward, said, based on the council’s conclusion, the road should have been closed to passing traffic.
He said: “The only way they can justify this is to say there is an imminent danger [to highway safety] and a risk to life. If that is the case why was the road not closed?” He also said residents had raised concern that work took place during bird nesting season.
Having requested details of a health and safety assessment and any tests that had been carried out to diagnose the diseased trees, this had not been supplied.
The council says it always tries to carry out the work before the trees
become dangerous enough that there is no choice but to close roads.
Cllr Learoyd, who has a doctorate and works in the bio-defence industry, said the council’s contractor had left large stumps on the roundabout and was “spraying chippings into the air [that] will only assist fungal spores to be carried to another site”.
He said: “I’m also questioning the process that was followed. If you are putting stuff into a wood chipper that is flying out the top it is going to aerosolize spores, which on a windy day could travel a couple of miles.”
Cllr Learoyd said he was not satisfied the council had acted appropriately and he expected a “higher standard of communication” with elected members.
He said after visiting the site he requested that the work stop immediately, but while there was a temporary pause, the work continued the next day.
In correspondence with Cllr Learoyd over the matter, a council officer said ash trees on the roundabout were dying back rapidly and any leftover chippings were being left at the site so as not to risk an acceleration of the disease through possible contamination elsewhere.
Only one birds’ nest was identified among the trees and this was described as inactive.
An e-mail from the council’s chief legal officer Steve Newton to Cllr Learoyd said the council would rely on the opinion of its arborist as to the condition of trees and their level of danger and suggested detailed testing and a written report would not be expected in each case.
The 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act protects active nests of wildlife birds and requires tree work to be delayed in case of potential damage to a nest. But it also allows for an exemption if required on public safety grounds.
A spokesman for the council said: “As a council we have a duty to inspect and fell unsafe and dying trees suffering from ash dieback, a fungus that kills trees very quickly.
“Recent estimates suggest that the disease can kill up to 70% of ash trees – in the UK, this means 70 million trees could be lost. Decisions to cut down trees are never taken lightly, but we have a responsibility for public safety.”
The spokesman also described ongoing tree replacement and planting schemes in Redcar and Cleveland. He said: “In the last two years we have planted more than 22,000 trees and we have an annual tree planting programme in our ongoing drive to create a greener borough and to increase biodiversity in the area.”
Councils can be prosecuted if they fail to properly inspect and manage tree stock, including those on the public highway.