More than 800 trees have been chopped down in one Black Country borough alone last year – almost the same number felled over the previous three years combined.
The huge increase comes after a diseased tree toppled over and killed three people in Birmingham, forcing councils across the country to review their policies or risk costly prosecutions. The figures, obtained through an Express & Star request under the Freedom of Information Act, show around 823 trees were axed by Dudley Council contractors in 2006/2007 alone.
This compares with around 866 between 2002 and 2005. Lewis Bourne, the council’s information officer, said trees were chopped down in accordance with the Tree Risk Management Strategy.
“Trees are principally felled because they are dead, dying or dangerous, threatening the residents and visitors to the borough,” he said.
He said fellings were also carried out where trees had “foreseeable defects that in time will render them unsafe”.
Trees that cause “serious damage to properties” are also felled, he said.
Peter Wilkes, aged 70, said he had noticed a large number of trees, some up to 100 years old, had been hacked down over the last year in Priory Park, which he walks through on the way to the educational book firm he owns in Dudley town centre.
“It’s certainly a health and safety thing,” he said. “Almost all the local authorities have been butchering hundreds of trees, which is very sad, because many of them are perfectly healthy.”
Russ Newey, green care team manager at Dudley Council, said felling trees was a resort but it was important to ensure dangerous trees were removed.
Kenneth Davis, aged 56, his mother Ellen, 79, and postman Alan Poole, 59, died when a diseased ash tree toppled on to their vehicles in Kings Heath in 1999.
4 Comments
THEY HAVE MISSED THE FINAL BUREAUCRATIC SOLUTION : TO BAN TREES COMPLETELY.JUST A QUESTION OF TIME ? AND BUILD HOUSES AND FLATS ON NUISANCE ZONES LIKE SCHOOL PLAYING FIELDS,GOLF COURSES AND PARKS ?
PS (BAD NEWS FOR DUDLEY HEALTH AND SECURITY) APPARENTLY LIFEJACKETS ARE STILL NOT COMPULSORY ON GONDOLAS IN VENICE. THE SOLUTION : FORBID ALL DUDLEY CITIZENS FROM GOING THERE.AND OPEN AN EMERGENCY FUND TO REPATRIATE THOSE ALREADY OUT THERE.
REMINDER :- REMEMBER THE DODGER FROM STOURBRIDGE TOWN TO THE JUNCTION WHEN IT WAS STEAM?
AS KIDS WE USED TO SPEND THE DAY GOING UP AND DOWN ON THE FOOTPLATE. THE EMPIRE’S HEALTH AND SECURITY TODAY WOULD SEND IN THE POLICE AND SENTENCE THE PARENTS TO MONTHS’OF PARENTIAL REFORM.
AS FOR LIGHTNING, POLICE SHOULD HAVE POWERS TO IMPRISON THOSE WHO SHELTER UNDER DUDLEY’S (REMAINING TREES) AWAITING THE INEVITABLE CHOP .
I HOPE THEY ARE GOING TO REPLACE THEM SOON . THEY SHOULD HAVE TO IF THEY ARE NOT GOING TO
Damn nanny britain once again.
Of course a tree is going to fall on you, what about phone masts, telegraph poles, and street lamps too.
Lets just chop everything down because we’ll liable if anyone gets hurt. Lets just shut parks just in case someone get cut by the blades of grass.
Britain gone mad as usual.
But who is doing the suing, which is causing the Councils to get scared?
It’s desperate people who have failed in life and know that an easy way to get a lot of money is to create a situation where they are “injured” and can either sue for compensation or settle out of court, aided by those “no win no fee” scum you see hanging out on West Bromwich town centres, plaguing on the ignorant and dispossessed.
So, the three posters above may be correct in saying that Councils are trying to ban trees out of existence, but they’re only responding to us - society - and our pathetic, miserable and lazy ways.