800 trees axed in safety move

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.