Families have had yet another 'lucky escape' after a 'dangerous' tree has fallen again. This follows demands for it to be removed. The oak tree, which has already damaged properties when a branch smashed into three homes, has now caused further damage to people's gardens, Berkshire Live reports. The tree is under a protection order.
Neighbours pushed for the tree to be removed in September, when the first incident occurred. But the tree is the subject of a tree protection order (TPO) – an order made by a local planning authority to protect specific trees, groups of trees or woodlands – meaning an application to cut it down must be approved by the council.
Shocking images now show the latest destruction caused by the fallen tree, which came crashing down in the high winds brought on by Storm Claudio on Tuesday (November 2). Located at the bottom of her garden on Hungerford Close, Sandhurst, a furious Debbie Smith emphasised how “incredibly lucky” it was that the tree didn’t injure anyone during the two incidents and criticised Bracknell Forest Council for being “unhelpful from the beginning”.
Prior to Tuesday’s incident, residents claimed the Tree Officer informed them they would not be supporting the application unless more evidence was provided. Head of Natural Estates at the council, Stephen Chown, said the original application submitted to the council contained “incomplete information”. He stated that “in the absence of evidence to support removing the tree”, the officer could only recommend heavy crown reduction based on their visual inspection.
After the devastation caused in September, the occupants of all three homes were forced to temporarily move out whilst repair work was carried out. Jodie and Conor, who had only moved back into their property last Thursday (October 27) after major restoration work undertaken, will now have to repair the damage done to their garden and rebuild the destroyed fences.
They said: “This could have killed someone both times, the walkway that many families use with their children was completely hit. Bracknell Forest Council have been completely negligent and have failed in their duty of care.” Mrs Smith wants the council to acknowledge it made an “error of judgement” and questioned whether there are “other dangerous trees” in the borough that the council are “ignoring”.
She added: “We have had no apology from any of them and feel that if they had worked with us instead of against us, we could have prevented the tree from snapping in half.” Mrs Smith felt the officer ignored previous reports stating the tree is dangerous and felt “bullied” into paying a further £400 to have another one done. Mr Chown said she was advised that a new report would be required.
Mr Chown said that the arrival of the report was “not in time for the tree removal or the crown reduction to be approved“, which would “have likely prevented” the collapse. “This second report contained an accurate assessment of tree condition which demonstrated that the removal of the tree could be justified as a necessary measure and should be completed in the forthcoming months,” he added.
A council Tree Officer visited the properties on Tuesday following the latest incident, but Jodie and Conor accused them of being “rude and patronising”, offering those affected “no apology or empathy”. They said: “He finally agreed that it does all need to come down and authorised the felling. [It’s] just a shame we had to go through all this twice before it was agreed!”
Mr Chown said the council would have “welcomed applications for the pruning or removal of this tree” in the years prior to its collapse and confirmed the officer’s recommendation to remove the tree will be formally issued on November 3.
