Responding To Sefton's Statement

Sefton Council issued a statement in regard to the two trees to be removed in Formby Village which can be found here. However I would suggest that it lacks balance and is at times misleading I particularly take issue with the following points.

“All options, including the possibility of remedial works, have been explored but none of the options identified would immediately reduce the significant health and safety risk the dying trees are causing”.  Firstly we have a report that says the trees are in decline not dying.  The actions in the Parish Council report rebalancing the crown, and reducing the length of certain heavy branches by up to 1.5m is designed specifically to reduce the risk of failure of the trees and immediately reduce the health and safety risk.

“In order to ensure the public highway is kept safe for both pedestrians and motorists the two trees concerned must now be removed”. The Formby Parish Council expert says that with the course of action proposed the trees aren’t a safety issue, his terms of reference explicitly states that he is to identify potential hazards and establish severity as well as to ensure a duty of care is carried out by the tree's owners and provide recommendations for any work deemed necessary to prevent failure.

A spokesman for Sefton Council said: “Sadly due to the extent of decline of both trees, any remedial works would have no effect on the longevity of them.  Not so according to the report from the Parish Council, this statement is simply not true according to our expert.

“As the highway authority, we have a statutory duty of care to make sure Chapel Lane is a safe area and we have taken the decision to approve the removal of these trees.

“The tree in front of Cassidy’s greengrocers is dying and no amount of maintenance works will improve the trees health, while the tree outside Boots is suffering from a considerable amount of decay within the crown leading to major structural concern”. The tree in front of Cassidy’s is not dying it is in decline there is a difference, one can be reversed the other cannot. According the Parish Council expert Bruce Hatton maintenance work can and will revive both trees and address the structural safety of the Boots tree.

Click here to view the full text of the Parish Council Tree report.

Sefton Council have not produced a written report on the two trees they have scheduled to cut down, and the opinion of their tree team is so at odds with the very experienced expert chosen by Formby Parish Council I would ask what qualifications and experience the team has to make their assessment and does their opinion come with the same experience and is it as qualified as Mr Hattons view?