COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
Monday, May 09, 2016
QUESTION NO. 19
QUESTION: Councillor G. O'Connell
To ask the Chief Executive for a report on the Tree Strategy for the County and to include by Area Committee, (a) the number of requests from residents for action on particular trees since September 2015, (b) the number of trees that are still on the “to do” and (c) what is the average time between a tree being reported and action being taken.
REPLY:
South Dublin County Council's Tree Management Policy 'Living With Trees' 2015-2020 was adopted at the County Council meeting in July 2015. An Action Plan has been prepared to support and deliver progress against the vision and aims of the Tree Management Policy. The plan identifies a number of key actions, responsibilities and timescales for delivery over the period 2015-2020. The current status for actions identified for delivery in the period 2015 - 2016 is as follows:
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Update on ‘Living With Trees’ Action Plan for 2015/2016 |
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| Action | Measurement | Status |
| Evaluate and purchase a tree management system | Purchase and use of system | System installed and in active use. |
| Survey all street trees in County and collate all data on computerised tree management system | Number of trees surveyed | Survey commenced in March 2015. Over 7,000 trees surveyed to date. |
| Develop an annual tree planting programme | Number of trees planted | Budget allocation confirmed for tree planting and programme in preparation for implementation autumn2016/spring2017 |
| Review existing Tree Preservation Orders in the county | Annual review | Ongoing as part of the planning process by Public Realm in conjunction with Planning Section |
| Ensure tree maintenance is completed in a safe manner in accordance with recognised standards and best practice | Ongoing development and training of all Council staff involved in tree work Employment of qualified, trained, competent contractors | Training and upskilling of staff ongoing |
| Use the Council’s planning powers to retain and protect trees on development sites and enforce as necessary | Annual review | Ongoing as part of the planning process by Public Realm in conjunction with Planning Section |
| Maximise the recycling of tree related green waste generated by the Council’s own tree management. | Annual review | Ongoing |
| Establish guidelines to prioritise maintenance work on street trees | Guidelines in place and used | Guidelines set out and in use as per Tree Management Policy ‘Living With Trees’ |
| Develop a 5 year cyclical tree maintenance programme for street trees | Publish programme on Council’s website | Programme under development |
| Develop best practice protocol for tree maintenance works and nesting birds | Protocol agreed and in practice | In preparation |
| Provide staff training in tree survey and inspection | Training completed | Training completed in September 2015. Further training to be arranged |
| Develop a ‘Trees’ webpage on the Council’s website www.sdcc.ie | Webpage in place and maintained | Webpage active |
| Make tree maintenance programme available on website | Information available on website | 2016 Tree Maintenance Programme is published on Council's website |
| Promote Tree week and Tree day in association with the Tree Council of Ireland | Tree Day activities organised each year | Events organised for Tree Day 2015 and National Tree Week 2016 |
In regard to requests for tree works, for the period September 1, 2015 to April 29, 2016, the Council has received 2,269 enquiries relating to trees via the Council's Customer Contact System. These enquiries are categorised under the headings of 'Tree Planting' (113 enquiries), 'Tree Pruning' (1,295 enquiries) and 'Tree Removal' (861 enquiries). The Council's Customer Contact System does not have the facility to analyse the data on enquiries received by Area Committee.
The 2015 Tree Maintenance Programme included over 2,000 commitments for tree maintenance works. Of these, there are just under 30 commitments outstanding. The reasons that the majority of these remain outstanding is because there are currently nesting birds in the trees or the trees are located under electricity wires and require special arrangements to be made for the necessary works to be completed. Arrangements will be made to complete these outstanding works as soon as is practicable.
The timeframe between receipt of a request for tree maintenance and action taken, if required, varies depending on the level of priority assigned to the action. Any tree-related emergencies are referred for immediate action in accordance with the Council’s emergency procedures. An emergency is defined as a tree that is in immediate danger of collapse or a tree that is causing an obstruction requiring urgent attention. Non-emergency tree enquiries are listed for inspection. Following inspection where it is identified that tree works are required, they are categorised and will be included for attention on the Council’s annual Tree Maintenance Programme in accordance with a priority based system. This system of prioritisation and the timeframes involved are detailed in the Council's Tree Management Policy 'Living With Trees'. Typically, the target for completion of works categorised as 'High Priority' is within 3 months ranging to 'Medium Priority Works' where the target for action is within 12 months to 'Low Priority Works' where the action period is 24 months+.
In addition, in line with the Council's Tree Management Policy, the focus of the 2016 Tree Maintenance Programme and future programmes is 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.