Stafford and Cannock Chase councils to invest in joint tree management system

Stafford Borough and Cannock Chase Councils are each set to invest in a new software system and routine risk inspections for authority-owned trees spread across more than 261 square miles.

Both councils’ cabinets backed the tree management proposals at their latest meetings. The system is also set to enable members of the public to access information on trees.

A cabinet report said trees on open spaces were one of the biggest sources of enquiries at both councils. “Updating the software would allow tree enquiries to be more efficiently dealt with via a self-service customer portal”, it added.

Councillor Tony Pearce, Stafford Borough Council’s cabinet member for climate action and nature recovery, said: “The report deals with three types of category of tree – trees owned by the councils, the Tree Preservation Order (TPO) trees and trees that are in a conservation area. 

"It talks of the need to acquire a software system to manage the council-owned trees and merge the entire tree management operation under one officer to have a system that is public facing, where members of the public can access information about both the council-owned trees and those that are subject to Tree Protection Orders or in a conservation area.

“For the first time, members of the public will be able to readily access this sort of information. We have 78,000 trees owned by the two authorities, in an area that covers seven times the size of Coventry City.

“It’s a very large area and does require routine inspection. There will be a system where trees owned by the councils are categorised into three different risk categories; red inspected every year, amber inspected every three years and green inspected every five years.

“This is about where those trees are located and the extent of footfall near to those trees. It will mean trees are inspected regularly and those that are in the most high risk areas are dealt with most frequently.”

Cannock Chase Council leader Tony Johnson said: “We need to maintain trees in a safe manner. If you have a rotten tree and it falls on someone, this council or Stafford Borough Council are liable. I think that type of risk assessment is something we need to do and we have now got an opportunity to do it.”

Fellow Cannock Chase Council cabinet member Maureen Freeman also highlighted the importance of tree risk management in the wake of a tragic incident in an Essex park in June. Part of a tree fell on children in Southend-on-Sea and a seven-year-old girl later died in hospital.

Councillor Freeman said: “We all know about the little girl who died. It’s not something we want in this area so I welcome this report.”