Pilot scheme urged for county to address dangerous trees

A proposal seeking a pilot scheme for the county to address dangerous trees was supported at a recent plenary meeting of the local authority.

Fine Gael councillor Gareth Scahill proposed this as an amendment to his original motion tabled at the meeting, which called for a roadside tree survey to identify dead, dangerous and infected trees.

In his original motion, he asked that Roscommon County Council contact the Government requesting financial support to identify, safely remove and replace where possible, dead, dangerous and infected roadside trees.

During the discussion, Independent councillor Tom Crosby also proposed that correspondence be circulated to all local authorities to support the motion, “and at least survey the costs and then look at funding to implement this over a period of time”.

Pointing out that this was an issue that had been brought to his attention numerous times, Cllr Scahill told the plenary meeting this was primarily a problem on secondary roads but there were also instances on national roads.

He said ash dieback had been mentioned at council meetings previously and the dangers it presented to the general public, road users and property.

“My point of view on this is that we have increased traffic, we have increased commuters on our roads at the moment and we have an increased number of people working remotely and at home.

“We’re trying to encourage people to come to the county and work remotely but there are also increased instances of high winds and storms, and increased number of weather warnings,” he said.

The councillor said that when these storms strike, dead and infected roadside trees coming down had become more common. 

“We are at an earlier stage of the year where we can do something about if we can get the support. The department needs to come up with a mechanism to support local authorities to make our roadsides safer.

“Whenever trees go down, powerlines go down, communications line go down and all the services go down, there doesn’t seem to be any issue with the cost associated with that,” he said.

Independent councillor Mícheál Frain welcome the council’s planned tree management policy but also suggested that the issue needed to be to looked at as a risk assessment in the council’s emergency planning for the winters ahead.

Many councillors welcomed Cllr Scahill’s motion, saying these trees were accidents waiting to happen. Fianna Fáil councillor Sean Moylan spoke of his own personal experience where he was trapped in a van for a number of hours when a tree fell down on top of it.

“It’s not a nice place to be,” he said.

Council CEO Shane Tiernan said it could not be underestimated the enormity of cost of a proposed roadside tree survey.

“Be under no illusion, we don’t have the financial resources to do this and there is also the complexity with landowners as to whether it is the council or the landowner’s responsibility.

“We have to implore on Government that a national scheme is needed on this and give us the resources to do specialist surveys, engage with landowners and ultimately to have the money to pay for whatever actions are needed out of that. We will certainly support the motion,” he said.

In a formal reply to Mr Scahill’s motion, the council said that trees on private property were the responsibility of the owner.

“The 1993 Roads Act place a statutory obligation on landowners and occupiers to ensure roadside structures, trees, shrubs or other vegetation do not present a danger to those using and working on public roads.

“Under the law, landowners are liable for any damage caused by their trees. The council can serve a notice requiring a landowner to take the necessary steps to address any hazards. In the event that the council, as the road authority, has to take action, it may recover the costs incurred by it from the landowner,” it said.

The council said that dealing with large dangerous roadside trees was a difficult and expensive undertaking. 

It agreed that a national approach and response was required and agreed with the notice of motion to write to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to request that a scheme be put in place to provide financial support to landowners to deal with this issue. Currently, there is no such specific funding from the department.

The local authority pointed out that the department had published guidance on the subject of roadside trees, in partnership with the Tree Council of Ireland, A Guide for Landowners to Managing Roadside Trees, which provides guidance to landowners on how to manage roadside trees.

The guidance includes assessing risk associated with trees and describes common defects including dieback, unstable leans, splits and cracks, decay and cavities.

“Roscommon County Council is currently drafting a county tree management policy.

“The policy will also offer guidance and encouragement to landowners to manage their roadside trees in a responsible manner,” the council said.