Threat from roadside trees needs tackling, say MKMD members

“I think we need to get practical here,” Cllr Denis Leonard told colleagues as he called for a long-term solution to the threat to traffic, to pedestrians and to electrical power supplies caused by “vulnerable roadside trees”.

He was addressing the January meeting of the Municipal District of Mullingar Kinnegad, and the response provided by Westmeath County Council stated that it carries out regular surveys of roadside trees and hedges and that in the last year it has issued 1,240 tree and hedge cutting notices to land owners in the district.

The response added that it is the responsibility of landowners and occupiers to ensure trees and hedges along their boundaries are maintained.

Cllr Leonard said there are an awful lot of trees around the county that are dangerous and that need to be assessed, especially given how frequent severe weather events are becoming. He said when roadside trees fall on power lines, large swathes of the county are left without power and there is also the threat to life from falling trees.

The Labour Party councillor said the council should look at working with the IFA on the issue but that at the same time, the council needed to have a role in assessing which are the most dangerous trees.

Continuing, he said what was needed was “a cooperative partnership approach” with landowners and farmers to ensure that in the shortest possible time, the most vulnerable trees are removed from roadsides.

Cllr Niall Gaffney supported the motion and said prevention is better than cure; he pointed out that ash dieback is also causing a problem among trees the length and breadth of the country.

“We should have either some kind of survey or some kind of public information campaign where we say ‘here are some tentative signs that a tree on your property is going to be a danger in the next 18 months or at the next big storm’ and bring people with us on it,” he said.

Cllr Alfie Devine asked where the responsibilities of the landowner began and ended: “Like you have one farm on a particular road, everything is cut lovely. And then the next farm, there’s trees overhanging, branches on and off them, bushes hanging out over the roads.”

He asked what happens if the council sends out a notice to a landowner and no action is taken: “How far does it go then? Can you push it any further, as in, again, is it a fine? Is it court?”

Stating that he could name five or six different areas where there are “rows and rows of trees overhanging roads” to the extent that they are obstructing passage, he said the amount of debris falling on roads is unbelievable.

“It’s getting to be an awful issue,” he said, adding that someone is yet going to be killed by a falling ash tree rotten from dieback.

“We need to get pushing these landowners to get these lands cleared of all these trees along the road as soon as possible.”

Cllr David Jones took the view that in any discussion about a solution to the issue, the parties around the table should also include the ESB and Open Eir, both of which have responsibility for roadside poles.

Cllr Jones had some reservations about fully putting the cost on farmers, pointing out that it can cost as much as €1,200 for one tree to be taken down and in a case where there were 10 trees that would be a huge cost.

Senior engineer Pat Kavanagh told the meeting that the majority of landowners cooperate when served with hedge or tree cutting notices.

“There are certainly a few who don’t, but we would follow up with them and in some cases where we have had little response or where we can’t get in contact with a landowner, we have taken action ourselves and dealt with the trees.”

He said that in such cases the council invoices the landowners after the work is done: “In fact,” he stated, “we have a number of invoices being prepared after the storm (Storm Darragh) where landowners had been sent with notices and didn’t carry out works and some of the trees did fall. We will be invoicing those landowners and following up on it.”

Mr Kavanagh revealed that the costs are significant: “Today we are out cutting trees along a section of road near Delvin and I think it’s going to cost about €24,000,” he told the members.

He added that the council use the services of a professional arborist who assesses trees along main roads. “We don’t necessarily take down every tree, but we certainly try to make them safe,” he said.

Director of services Deirdre Reilly commented that the ash dieback issue is not just a Westmeath problem, but a national issue. She said members should discuss that particular problem with their Oireachtas members, and also the question of funding to deal with it.