Closed
Dangerous Tree
Sent to Buckinghamshire Council less than a minute later. FixMyStreet ref: 5862284.
I am writing today to bring to your immediate attention to a pressing matter regarding a hazardous tree in our community that poses a significant threat to public safety.
Yesterday, (as you are aware) a large limb of very considerable weight from the huge Horse chestnut tree fell onto a pedestrian walkway frequently used by school children, as well as onto the roadway, resulting in the crushing of a van and damaging another vehicle. Fortunately, a workman narrowly escaped with minor injuries, but the potential for a serious accident is alarmingly high.
This is not the first that debris has been shed from the tree but it is certainly the most concerning. With the help of the Paradigm workmen we were able to guide traffic and remove branches from blocking one side of the road.
This incident underscores the urgent need for the removal of the tree in question. I want to highlight that there have been previous requests and concerns raised regarding the safe standard of this tree, which unfortunately have not been addressed adequately.
Given the severity of the recent incident and the clear risk it poses to pedestrians, motorists, and workers in the area, I urge you to take immediate action to remove the tree before any further accidents occur. The safety of our community members, especially our children who use the pedestrian walkway regularly, must be our top priority.
I am available to discuss this matter further and provide any additional information or assistance necessary to expedite the removal process. Thank you for your prompt attention to this critical issue.
Kind regards, Mr M Tomlin.
Updates
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A Highway Officer will carry out an initial assessment of the tree, emergency issues will be corrected or made safe at the time of the inspection, if reasonably practicable to do so. In this context, making safe may constitute displaying warning notices, coning‐off or fencing‐off to protect the public from the tree or other suitable action.
If the inspection team cannot make safe the defect at the time of inspection, then they will instigate the relevant emergency call procedures to ensure appropriate resources are mobilised to make the tree safe. Not all Highway Officers are not qualified as tree experts and in some cases they may need to arrange for a tree surgeon to visit the site and carry out a survey on the tree which can take up to 12 weeks.
There may also be occasions when the issue reported will be classified as a minor defect and does not pose any risk to either the safety or the integrity of the highway, these are called minimum recording levels as specified in our Highways Safety Inspection Policy, in these cases no action will be taken.
We do not prune or remove council owned trees to improve natural light for a private property (including obstruction of solar panels). If you wish to carry out any work on a tree, you must first check the tree is not protected before any work is started. How to find out if a tree has a Tree Preservation Order (TPO) in Buckinghamshire.
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Update
The issue reported has been classed as an emergency, defects will be corrected or made safe at the time of the inspection, if reasonably practicable to do so. In this context, making safe may constitute displaying warning notices, coning‐off or fencing‐off to protect the public from the defect or other suitable action.If the inspection team cannot make safe the defect at the time of inspection, then they will instigate the relevant emergency call procedures to ensure appropriate resources are mobilised to make the defect safe.
This report is now closed to updates from the public. You can make a new report in the same location.