Shirehall leaders are next week expected to agree moves to protect Shropshire road users and school sites from falling trees.

The Shropshire Council cabinet is being asked to approve a tree safety policy.

A report says that falling trees, or parts of trees, have resulted in four deaths on the Shropshire roads network, as well as serious injuries.

There have also been at least two “near misses” on school sites, it says.

There are almost 10,000 individual tree specimens on school sites and 500,000 trees within “potential falling distance” of roads, for which the council is responsible as landowner.

“Trees are a vital component of the county’s biodiversity, landscape and cultu- ral heritage, contributing to Shropshire’s environmental wellbeing,” says the report.

“They are crucial to making our communities the ‘unique’ place that local people really value.

“Falling trees, or part of trees,present an unavoidable hazard, but they are a manageable risk.

Arrangements

“Shropshire Council has robust and well-managed arrangements in place for tree inspections, and tree safety management.

“However, it is important to review these arrangements and to formally adopt a council-wide tree safety policy.”

The policy sets out the “responsible, efficient and sustainable” management of the trees, how and when they are to be inspected, by whom, how they are recorded, and how any remedial works are to be carried out.

The report says that the loss of tree cover in Shropshire as a result of felling dangerous ones, is inevitable but is offset by the community free tree scheme, funded from the council budget.

“Up to 15,000 trees are put back into Shropshire’s communities and landscape annually,” adds the report.

“Local people value and appreciate this scheme.”

The cabinet will be told that the policy must be implemented in full to provide the authority with a safe, efficient and legally defensible tree risk management system. The report says that when any tree or trees are felled as a result of the policy, the council will endeavour to plant a suitable replacement. However, this may not necessarily be at the same site.

There will be a five-year cycle of inspection by officers of trees alongside A and B roads, as well as on the urban network.

“Obviously hazardous” trees alongside minor roads will be identified by officers during annual driven inspections. At school sites, mature and semi-mature trees will be inspected every two years.

By Dave Morris