Chandos Road felling - December 2010

16 Dec

We've had a bit of a disaster on Chandos Road. Unfortunately the council tree fellers have cut down the wrong tree - so we have lost 2 x 100 year old trees on our road instead of the scheduled one. The tree due to be felled was marked clearly with a pink dot, unfortunately the tree opposite had been labelled with one of the "save the whalley range trees - "this tree is due to be felled" posters. The fellers saw the poster and cut down that tree instead of the one which had been clearly marked by the council. I called David Davidson and he was hugely apologetic but of course there is nothing he can do now - the tree has gone. He assured me they would get replacements in as soon as possible.

KB

The Council's felling plan, passed to us, indicated that the tree to be felled was on Chandos Road at the side of 390 Wilbraham Road. The group had put up a notice on the tree to inform local people.

The tree was cut down earlier this month. It turns out it was a healthy tree and should not have been indicated on the Council document and should not have been felled. The felling contractors appear either to have had the same Council document indicating the wrong tree, or to have mistaken the poster for an official notice.

The instruction to fell the tree this month was apparently given at short notice to the fellers. The reason given for felling now rather than January (as assured by council officers for other trees) is that the tree was identified as being an immediate safety risk.

The unsafe tree (just across the road) has also been felled.

Ben2

Dear Ben,

I anticipate that the Group may face some criticism over the removal of the wrong tree on Chandos Road . In fact the Group was not to blame for two reasons:-

1. The healthy tree that was removed by mistake had appeared on the earlier felling list produced by the Council.

2. At a meeting with the Council Officers Dave Hughes, Dave Davidson and Steve Leaf, I specifically raised the point that the Group could not be sure that the notices had been placed on the correct trees. The Council Officers commented that they were already aware of this and they assured us that the tree fellers would disregard our notices, and would only work from the instructions provided by the Council.

I would like you to put this message onto the forum, so that people are made aware.

Regards,

Paul Benson-Hannam