Over the last few weeks, Council's arborist team have been meeting with a group of local residents who have expressed concerns about the extent of works to be undertaken on the tree.
Council's policy, is and remains, to not undertake more works than are needed to appropriately manage the risk to public safety.
The poor trunk structure of the tree, coupled with its location in a car park and close proximity to a footpath, road and nearby hardware store, are all important public risk considerations that Council takes very seriously.
A number of independent arborist reports, including one commissioned by the group of concerned residents, all propose significant works to the tree. These reports also suggest that a portion of the tree could only be retained with additional controls in place. The most appropriate control considered at this stage is to create a vegetated zone around the tree, that still enables the majority of the carpark space to be used.
This week, the group of local residents proposed that Council wait for the results of some further testing of the tree, before undertaking minimum critical safety works.
While results from the further testing will be considered in the final assessment of the tree, this does not change the need for these minimum critical safety works to occur now.
These minimum critical safety works are to help manage the public safety risk posed by the tree on potential fall sites along the footpath, highway and hardware store and are scheduled to take place next week.
All work to date has been carried out and informed by appropriately qualified, experienced and independent arborists, who have applied internationally accepted practices in tree assessment.
Council continues to appreciate the passion around this significant tree and will consider the results from the further tests in its final assessment of the tree. A balanced outcome that appropriately manages the public safety risk remains as Council's objective.
Council will continue to keep the community informed with further updates to follow.
