COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF LUCAN AREA COMMITTEE

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

MOTION NO. 6

MOTION: Councillor V. Casserly

"That this area committee requests that the chief executive carries out an audit of the suitability and size of the street trees in Hillcrest and to bring a report back to this committee."

REPORT:

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

In the context of the above, a full survey of all of the street trees in Hillcrest estate will be carried out as part of an ongoing countywide survey of all Council owned and managed street trees.  This survey will be used to determine the extent of the requirement for tree maintenance in the estate and will inform the prioritisation of the estate in a future programme of tree maintenance for the whole estate.

In regard to the suitability and the size of the extsting street trees in Hillcrest, it should be noted however that a healthy tree does not necessarily warrant removal or intervention because it is preceived as being too large.  Residents may feel apprehensive about the size of a tree and consider it dangerous. However, trees are not dangerous just because they are perceived as tall, too big for their surroundings or move in the wind. Tree movement in high winds is natural and one of the ways they are able to withstand strong winds. Other problems would need to be shown for the Council to consider a large or tall tree to be a cause for concern.