A Letterkenny councillor has called for an audit of trees in the council’s housing developments in advance of future storms.
The destructive storm Éowyn saw a number of trees narrowly missing houses in local estates in January, Councillor Gerry McMonagle told the Letterkenny-Milford Municipal District’s July meeting.
As weather conditions become more severe, Cllr McMonagle said that now is the time to take stock of potentially dangerous trees and deal with them.
“We are far from against trees, it’s where we plant them is what I’m trying to get at here,” Cllr McMonagle said. “A lot of trees were planted in developments 20-25 years ago, and now they are causing a lot of problems for residents. We saw trees under threat in January, and indeed we lost a lot of trees.”
He added that many trees are now damaging footpaths and “starting to grow out under the roads.”
A response from the council said that, in accordance with the 1993 Roads Act, the landowner is responsible for taking all reasonable steps to ensure that the tree on their land is not a hazard or potential hazard to persons using the public road.
Thus, in housing estates, the management of trees would be the responsibility of the landowner or the residents association, whoever has the responsibilities for the green areas within the housing estate.
The council confirmed it monitors and follows up with landowners about removing dangerous trees.
Cllr McMonagle called for clarity on the response, stating that tree management is an “awful burden” to put on residents’ associations.
“If anything happens in a green area, if a tree falls on a house or falls on a car with someone in it and kills them, is that the fault of the residents’ association?” he asked.
Cllr McMonagle said he feared that Donegal County Council could be held responsible if an accident happens in council-owned developments.
“Management companies are unheard of in this town, we know that from experience,” he said. “We need to step up here and take down trees to save people’s property and somebody’s life.”
