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Cllr Sam Locke.
A LOCAL councillor says some overhanging branches on footpaths and main roads around Tralee have the potential to kill if they fell on pedestrians/vehicles during bad weather.
Cllr Sam Locke (Ind) asked that the Council develop a tree planting and trimming programme for Tralee at the meeting of Tralee Municipal District councillors on Monday.
He said that some of the established trees are now a danger to traffic and the general public — especially at Dan Spring Road, Killerisk Road and other trees in estates — and they need to be trimmed immediately.
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In reply, Council management said Tralee Municipal District has engaged the services of a qualified Arborist in advance of tree maintenance operations.
“The arborist has compiled reports for a large number of areas and estates throughout the town to date, which then informed a schedule of works for our Environment Crew/appointed Tree Surgeon to carry out,” reads the reply.
“These reports are compiled in the best interests of the trees’ development and the road/building safety issues that they may present if not maintained to the correct standards. In accordance with the Wildlife (Amendment) Act, tree maintenance cannot take place from 1st March to 31st August, unless a health and safety issue is present.”
“We are currently logging required hedge-cutting notices to be issued in September and are monitoring the development of some established trees in private ownership including on Dan Spring Road and Killerisk area. If we deem these areas are presenting a clear risk to the safety of road users, we will follow up with the owners and enforce the requirement to carry out maintenance on the trees.”
Tralee Municipal District has also recently prepared a draft Tree Management Plan for the MD which adopts a lifecycle management approach to tree planting, maintenance and replacement and councillors will be briefed on this document at the next Municipal District meeting.
