Roadside Trees:the Landowners’ Dilemma by Hugh Warmington
April 2008It is huge, it is old, it is beautiful and it is full of lovely creepy crawlies. The problem is that it is a hazard. One windy Winter night, or one scorching hot Summer’s day, its life will end in a few seconds of crashing noise, and someone might be injured.
What does the prudent landowner do?  He has a tree hazard survey done by someone qualified. He looks at it critcally. He instructs a contractor to fell all trees identified as being dangerous. And then he can sleep easily at night. The danger, and therefore the liability, have been removed.
It’s not quite that easy. Although no felling licence (from the Forestry Commission) is required to fell a dangerous tree, a licence may well be required under The Habitats Directive if there is a danger of disturbing a European Protected Species, in this case one of our seventeen species of bat. But as human health and safety is one of very few valid reasons, a licence should be forthcoming.
What is the dilemma? It is that, whilst the landowner owes a duty of care to motorists and walkers on footpaths and riders on bridleways, he is also concerned about the landscape. And felling lots of large and very old trees in full public view is not top of his list of good things to do. The courts have decreed that without commissioning a tree survey a landowner can hardly claim to be prudent. And if that landowner then ignores the survey’s conclusions he will definitely be culpable.
What is the risk? Very small. Every accident involving fallen trees is reported because it is so unusual.  But the consequences in terms of loss of life and financial damages can be huge. There is another small irony in this story. The trees most at risk are those standing alone, or in an avenue. They have no protection from strong winds. And these are the trees that would be most missed because they are individuals. Trees within, or even at the edge of woodland, have the protection of their neighbours, and if they were to be lost there is another tree standing nearby.
There is a further disincentive to fell dangerous trees. It is expensive. By definition they are well past their prime in terms of timber value, and perching next to a road adds difficulty and expense.  Let me just say that it makes very expensive firewood.  But the butt is too big for firewood, and too rotten for timber, so we can leave it to quietly decay and continue to provide a living for all those nice creepy crawlies. Oh, and we will continue to plant trees to replace those we might lose as well as those already lost.
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