Plymouth City Council had 100 complaints about dangerous trees after recent storms
PLYMOUTH City Council confirmed it was warned about a 'dangerous' tree eight days before it fell in high winds – but they received 100 similar calls within a few days.
The Herald yesterday reported that the huge tree uprooted and crashed on to two homes in Wilton Street, Stoke, on Saturday morning.
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Residents watch a fallen tree being removed
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A report in yesterday's Herald
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Resident Helen Collins said she had called the council about the tree on June 8, after it had blown to an angle in gales.
A council spokeswoman said: "We appreciate this must have been a pretty frightening experience for the owners of this property.
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"We can confirm that we received a call on June 8 regarding a tree at a dangerous angle in Wilton Road, however we also received around 100 calls from members of the public worried about trees near their homes in the space of a few days and it is not always easy to prioritise responses in unusually windy weather conditions."
She said teams have dealt with 25 to 30 trees that had toppled completely in gales over June 8 and 9.
The council has a tree maintenance programme to reduce risk where they can but it is not "foolproof", the spokeswoman added. "In this case, for instance, the team now removing the tree has detected considerable rot in the roots, which would not be visible in an inspection."
Mrs Collins said she and next door neighbours are writing letters of complaint to the council, asking who is liable for repairs to railings, windows and roofing.
Comments
by Kwacker10R
Saturday, July 07 2012, 10:29AM
“I've been on to my wife to trim her bush for weeks but she takes no notice! This is an accident waiting to happen!”
by Kwacker10R
Saturday, July 07 2012, 9:38AM
“Sounds like the Council's 'tree maintenance programme' is as effective as thei r weeding/pothole/grass cutting programme!”
by jackplane
Sunday, July 01 2012, 9:27AM
“we have been on to the council over the last five years for the trees bushes etc to be cut etc have been told yes it will be done ,have been told at one stage the land is not council land strange how thay have no ball game signs there and the grass gets cut , and cars have been damaged by falling branches and everytime lorrys drive down the road more branches get knocked down waste of time”
by MPstink1
Tuesday, June 19 2012, 8:41PM
“By10thattempt....you are so right....you have years of experience dealing with the halfwits at the other end of the mobile phone !”
by supernoodles1
Tuesday, June 19 2012, 4:23PM
“How dare the council send me threatening letters telling me to cut down my tress that were doing no harm,and give me 14 days to cut them.Its about time you looked at your own tress these are more dangerous and left unattended and take priority of tour own problems rather than poking your nose in other peoples bussiness”
by CornishPirate
Tuesday, June 19 2012, 12:26PM
“These guys sure love to pose around trees!”
by 10thattempt
Tuesday, June 19 2012, 11:08AM
“Having worked in a place that takes calls from customers, I can tell you....
everybody's call is their highest priority, and death and destruction will follow if it is not acted on immediately,
at least half the calls will have the wrong location,
at least half the calls will fail to say whay the problem is (though usually the operators just log what the caller says instead of actually trying to clarify this, as they have a target for clearing calls quickly)
at least 20% of the calls will come from the same 3 people,
at least 20% of the calls will come from people who can't read the instructions,
and 10% of the calls will be a wrong number.
I expect that the council callcentre experiences similar levels of cakker confusion.”
by whinger7643
Tuesday, June 19 2012, 10:09AM
“As someone wrote the other day, it's not the council themselves, we seem to be employing empty headed loons, council of the year only a few years ago, come off it, what was that for, having the best tea and buiscuits at break time.”
by trudie2010
Tuesday, June 19 2012, 8:47AM
“If they're not kicking themselves, I'm more than willing to go and kick them instead.”
by Redrussell
Tuesday, June 19 2012, 8:47AM
“The same can be said for a tree at the rear of Milehouse road which has been reported on several occasions by most of the neighbours as its just to large and is shedding extremely large branches every time the wind gets up........the owners have applied ages ago to get it trimmed at least but the council have just sat on it.....its pulled the telephone cables out of nearby houses and blocks the street light but alas some one within the council is obviously to busy to get his big red stamp out!! ......It only needs a good trim to balance it out. We will have to wait until it hurts someone before its gets the seal of approval i suppose!!”