Trees that are near buildings are often threatened by requests for removal. These requests normally come from homeowners or property owners or their insurance companies after trees are alleged to be causing damage. In many cases these trees pre-date the buildings that are being affected.

I would like to understand more about how this issue affects your local authority and the trees you are responsible for (i.e, you are responsible for maintaining, or are on your land, owned by you, etc). In particular, I would like to know, over the past 10 years:

1. The locations of trees removed by your authority due to property or infrastructure damage, ideally accompanied by their species and the date of removal where possible (locations via GIS data, What3Words, OS coordinates, or addresses as you find easiest)
We have been advised the following by our Tree Management and Trees & Landscape manager. We are currently unable to fully answer the request. In November 2023, the Council implemented a new tree asset management system which is supporting the service to record this data going forward. Currently, tree work in the Borough is managed by a variety of services including Estate Teams, Housing, Countryside Services, Public Rights of Way, Tree Management (who manage the Highway and Public Open Space trees) and all of these services may have received or been involved in tree related insurance/ subsidence claims. Going forward, the asset management system will be utilised to consolidate such data to allow us to provide responses to similar requests received in the future.

We are unable to provide the data prior to the implementation of the asset management however, since it’s implementation we are not aware of any Council owned trees having been removed due to property damage or subsidence related cases. Subsidence cases are complex and can take many years to resolve or agree mitigation measures and the Council works with insurance companies to ensure that any mitigation being requested whether that is felling, or vegetation management is comparable to the evidence provided. Evidence required to be submitted as part of subsidence related cases are:
• Drainage survey
• Engineers report
• Ground level and crack monitoring
• Soils plasticity
• Foundation type and depth
• Arboricultural report

Once the above evidence is provided, the Council investigates the claim and determines if the proposed mitigation is justifiable.

There are currently 7 ongoing subsidence cases being investigated by the Councils tree teams.

2. How many of/which of these trees were removed due to claims or requests from insurance companies
Please see answer to question 1.

3. How much the council paid to remove each tree (if this can be attributed per removal, or how much the council spent on tree removal each financial year if not)
Please see answer to question 1.

4. How much the council paid out in insurance claims for tree damage to properties (individual claim values preferred, but an aggregate value may be acceptable if the council considers the individual values to be exempt from disclosure)
In respect of claims that were notified to the council’s Public Liability insurers in 2014, where it was alleged that damage to third party property was caused by trees, the following compensation payments (including any legal and other professional costs, expenses etc.) have been made to date: £2,000, £1,704, £550, £351.64, £16,276, £25,716, £666.30, £2,264.46, £55,656 and £4,586.24.

In respect of claims that were notified to the council’s Public Liability insurers in 2015, where it was alleged that damage to third party property was caused by trees, the following compensation payments (including any legal and other professional costs, expenses etc.) have been made to date: £2,450.

In respect of claims that were notified to the council’s Public Liability insurers in 2016, where it was alleged that damage to third party property was caused by trees, the following compensation payments (including any legal and other professional costs, expenses etc.) have been made to date: £540 and £7,500.

In respect of claims that were notified to the council’s Public Liability insurers in 2017, where it was alleged that damage to third party property was caused by trees, the following compensation payments (including any legal and other professional costs, expenses etc.) have been made to date: £350

In respect of claims that were notified to the council’s Public Liability insurers in 2018, where it was alleged that damage to third party property was caused by trees, the following compensation payments (including any legal and other professional costs, expenses etc.) have been made to date: £17,696, £5,550, £1,779, £11,641, £1,100, £618 and £6,813.16.

In respect of claims that were notified to the council’s Public Liability insurers in 2019, where it was alleged that damage to third party property was caused by trees, the following compensation payments (including any legal and other professional costs, expenses etc.) have been made to date: £3,868.66.

In respect of claims that were notified to the council’s Public Liability insurers in 2020, where it was alleged that damage to third party property was caused by trees, the following compensation payments (including any legal and other professional costs, expenses etc.) have been made to date: £17,696, £5,550, £1,779, £11,641, £1,100, £618 and £6,813.16.

In respect of claims that were notified to the council’s Public Liability insurers in 2021, where it was alleged that damage to third party property was caused by trees, the following compensation payments (including any legal and other professional costs, expenses etc.) have been made to date: £3,386.99 and £6,258.

In respect of claims that were notified to the council’s Public Liability insurers in 2022, where it was alleged that damage to third party property was caused by trees, the following compensation payments (including any legal and other professional costs, expenses etc.) have been made to date: £3,336.72, £1,000 and £6,564.

In respect of claims that were notified to the council’s Public Liability insurers in 2023, where it was alleged that damage to third party property was caused by trees, the following compensation payments (including any legal and other professional costs, expenses etc.) have been made to date: £0.

In respect of claims that were notified to the council’s Public Liability insurers from January 2024 to 22nd July 2024, where it was alleged that damage to third party property was caused by trees, the following compensation payments (including any legal and other professional costs, expenses etc.) have been made to date: £0.

5. The number of trees where removal has been requested, but was either refused, an alternative solution found, or the situation is still ongoing; any breakdown that can be provided (similar to above, e.g, species and location) would be appreciated
Please see answer to question 1.