Trees

We have over 330,000 trees in public spaces, gardens and parks that are looked after by us. Our team maintains the trees in line with our tree strategy (PDF, 1.81MB) and our tree policy (PDF, 273KB).

We maintain trees on the highway for safety reasons and assess risk as part of our programme of tree inspections. We focus on the trees that our team have assessed as most likely to cause harm or damage.

We will investigate when the tree is:

• blocking access
• dead, dying or dangerous
• damaging property or surfaces due to root growth
• covering road, street signs and street lights
• being vandalised – wilful damage

We will not cut back or fell council owned trees when:

• it is causing tv interference
• it is encroaching your property with no harm
• it is blocking light to your property
• there are nesting birds or bats roosting
• there are problems with leaves and sap

Dropped seeds, leaves and other matter

We will not remove any tree because it is dropping seeds, leaves, pine cones or other matter unless the tree is dead, dying or diseased.

Response times

Depending on the urgency of the report, these are our usual response times:

• immediate (within two hours) - trees blocking access or in imminent danger of causing harm/damage to persons or property
• urgent (within 24 hours or the next working day) - trees partially blocking access or considered a potential risk to persons or property
• high priority (10 working days) - trees that are not urgent but have been identified as a potential safety concern
• medium priority (within three months) - trees that are low risk - work is required and will be programmed as part of our maintenance schedule

Private trees

We do not intervene in cases where private trees are a threat to other private property.

All tree owners have a Duty of Care, under the Occupiers Liability Acts 1957 & 1984, to ensure trees on their property are not a risk to people or property. This Duty is usually discharged by arranging for the trees to be regularly surveyed by a qualified professional Arboricultural Consultant. Failure to arrange these regular surveys may leave tree owners with an elevated liability in relation to their trees if they were to fail and cause damage or injury. It is also recommended that tree owners undertake an informal inspection of their trees following severe weather events, and, if they identify any damage to trees, or other cause for concern, they should have the trees inspected by an Arboricultural Consultant.

If residents are concerned about the condition of trees on neighbouring property, we recommend that they contact the tree owner to remind them of their Duty of Care. If you request that a neighbour has their trees checked, or undertakes tree work for safety reasons, and they refuse, it is a civil dispute and you may wish to get legal advice.