COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, October 13, 2014

MOTION NO. 8

MOTION: Councillor R. McMahon

In order to help clear the large back log of tree pruning and tree removal in our residential areas, I propose that this Council request that the Chief Executive employ outside contractors on an economic basis to supplement the excellent work being done by the County Council staff in trying to keep this problem at bay, so long as it does not have adverse effects on the employment situation within the council

REPORT:

Pruning, removal and planting of street trees is undertaken by staff from the Public Realm section under the Council’s annual Tree Maintenance Programme which up to 2014 has largely been delivered over a 4-month period between November and February although tree maintenance works and primarily emergency tree works are completed at other times subject to resource availability. During 2014, a supplementary Public Realm tree maintenance crew has been deployed to undertake street tree pruning and removal works on a year round basis.

An annual Tree Maintenance Programme is compiled in response to requests for arboricultural works received from members of the public and public representatives via the Council’s Customer Care Contact System along with works identified by Council staff. In recent years, the programme has increasingly focussed on tree pruning and removal works on entire roads or whole estates as opposed to acting on isolated requests for arboricultural works. The objective of this approach is to increase the efficiency and productivity of the tree maintenance crews and to advance a proactive programme of cyclical pruning that is targeted at priority locations where intervention is most needed.

The Tree Maintenance Programme for 2013/2014 was presented to the various Area Committee meetings during last autumn with progress updates provided at the March/April meetings of the Area Committees this year. The first phase of the 2014 Tree Maintenance programme was completed from January to February when Public Realm operations staff were then reassigned to primarily grass maintenance works during the growing season. The programme resumes again in November through to December. Any works not completed during the first phase of the programme are scheduled for completion during the second phase at the latter end of the year.

As previously mentioned, since May 2014 in response to an increase in requests for tree works, a supplementary tree maintenance crew has been assembled from staff within the Public Realm section to undertake street tree pruning and removal works on a year round basis. This crew is particularly focussed on advancing the programme of cyclical pruning in whole estates whereby tree maintenance will be completed on every tree as required within a particular estate or road. Other measures to further enhance the delivery of the Council’s street tree maintenance service are currently being developed and include the preparation of a draft tree management policy to guide the Council’s approach to tree management throughout the county. In addition, in order to improve efficiency in handling requests for tree works from members of the public and public representatives as well as inform the development the annual tree maintenance programme, the Council is seeking to install a street tree information management system to assist in managing the enquiry, inspection and work history of every street tree within the county.

As the Council is taking active measures to enhance the productivity of our tree maintenance service, it is not proposed to employ outside tree maintenance contractors at this time.