COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF RATHFARNHAM/TEMPLEOGUE-TERENURE AREA COMMITTEE

Tuesday, December 08, 2015

MOTION NO. 4

MOTION: Councillor P. Foley

"Can the strategy for tree pruning and removal for 2016 be clarified?  From one source I have been told that that a list will be produced in November/December with the trees that need pruning and removal in 2016.  Another source has said that the plan is to move away from pruning individual trees on a once off basis to pruning entire roads or estates."

REPORT:

In line with the Council's Tree Management Policy 2015-2020 "Living With Trees", the focus of the 2016 Tree Maintenance Programme will be on entire roads or whole estates.  This represents a move away from pruning individual trees on a one off basis.  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 to yield wider community benefit.

It is accepted, however, that there will always be a need to carry out reactive or emergency tree works on isolated individual trees, although the quantity of this work should reduce over time as the cyclical work is embedded. Reactive or emergency works will be carried out primarily to manage risks to the public and will include felling dead trees, removing hazardous branches, and clearing obstructions to sightlines and infrastructure.

The estates which will be prioritised for tree maintenance in 2016 will be those outstanding from the current year's programme including Castleside Drive, Boden Park, Scholarstown Park and Orwell Park.  A survey of all of the trees in each of these estates has been completed to inform the extent of tree pruning and removal works required. Other whole estates to be included on the 2016 Tree Maintenance Programme will be those where there are significant clusters of individual trees that have been already surveyed and a requirement for works has been identified.  The remaining trees in such estates will be surveyed and a complete programme of works will be devised for the estate.  

The 2016 Tree Maintenance Programme of whole estates will be presented in spring 2016 following completion of outstanding committments from the 2015 Tree Maintenance Programme for individual tree pruning.