Closed
The tree has over grown blocking light to public footpath (health and safety)
Sent to Buckinghamshire Council less than a minute later. FixMyStreet ref: 6540070.
This over grown tree has never been cut back or maintained and over the years it has continued to grow. It is now got to a point which is unacceptable, with the weather getting very windy and heavy rain it is not possible to walk on the footpath safely without falling or tripping because the street light is completely covered by the tree. This is not acceptable and is a health and safety hazard. There are elderly people and people which need access to the footpath who live on this road.
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. 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.
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Update
We have investigated the issue reported and found that it is on private land, we cannot use public money to resolve issues on private land, we can only use the power we do have under Section 154 (1) of the Highways Act 1980, to advise the owner/occupier of adjoining land they are required to carry out work on their land so as to remove the cause or likelihood of danger, obstruction or interference to the users of the Highway (footpath).
In most cases the work is carried out very quickly by the owner/occupier, but in some instances this can be a lengthier process but be assured we will follow due process to ensure the work is carried out.
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