Agenda item

The Council’s Head of Operations, Roger Tait introduced a report on tree management.  The report set out the Council’s approach to tree management and progress had been made in that there was now a tree team operating all year round.  A cherry picker had been purchased to safely access branches.  The Council had an aging workforce so tree climbing was an issue.  The Council had continued to let an annual contract for the more complex work each year and more progress had been made with the digital Tree Management System (TMS) up to date.

The Council’s approach to tree management was risk based with high priority work being done first to keep the community safe and to protect the Council’s liability.  There was a backlog of work which was low risk works. It was understandable that residents were disappointed when the low risk works took longer to be programmed but in terms of the resources that the Council had, it had to be managed that way.

To help with the low risk work, a protocol had been adopted where residents, if they wished, could offer to pay to bring work up the programme which could then be accessed via the Council’s contractor.

A request had been made by the Chair, Councillor Gary White to enable Parish Councils to bring tree works forward within their parishes.  A protocol for this was appended to the report.

Councillor Olszewski stated that some matters of tree works had been taking around four years from being reported to being completed.  In addition, in Wolstanton – the trees around the Marsh, very often are overhanging the pavement.  There had been cases where partially sighted residents had had overhanging branches in their faces.  Whilst it was a much slimmed down service, it was fair to say that despite the extra contract work it was still a service that was inadequate for the residents.  It was not a failing service because the service that was provided was a good one but just not enough of it.  The service did not meet the demands and in some cases could be quite hazardous.

Roger Tait agreed that there was a lot more that could be done if there was the resource to do it.  Members were advised that if they had particular issues within their wards that were not being addressed adequately, to get in touch and they would be looked into.  In addition, the TMS system could be looked at to see where some of the outstanding jobs were sitting at the moment.

Councillor Reddish asked what the anticipated take up would be for residents to fund the work and for Parish Councils.

Roger Tait stated that, in terms of Parish Councils there were some very proactive ones within the Borough.  The Council was currently working with Madeley Parish Council who were on the verge of appointing a tree contractor to carry out works around Madeley Pool and Audley Parish Council were also proactive in their tree work.  In terms of residents, the take up was not particularly high at present but it was an option.

Councillor Reddish stated that it was better for areas that had a Parish Council but for those areas without one did that make them disadvantaged because the Council had not got the resources. Did the areas without Parish Councils come back to the Council.  

Roger Tait confirmed that this was the case.  Using the risk based approach, anything that was high risk to people or property in a non-parish ward would be on the Council’s high priority list and would be taken care of.  The works that were not happening was the low risk/low priority ones.

Councillor Paul Waring asked what was meant by low value items, for example a couple of hundred pounds or a thousand.

Roger Tait advised that the term low value referred to works that were not essential to the tree and not posing a risk to people or property.  A lot of the time it was general, shading out of people’s gardens so in monetary terms that too would be low value.

Resolved:     (i)         That the report be received and that the current approach

to tree management and associated risks, be acknowledged.

(ii)        That the proposed mechanism to enable Parish Councils

and other organisations to implement and fund tree work which is considered to be a local priority, be endorsed.