We reviewed the current tree inspection programme undertaken by the Council, and compared it to Best Practise for the management of highway trees. This considered the approaches adopted by other local authorities, statutory advice, and published recommendations.

The second stage in the strategy was to work out the size of the tree resource. Enviroscope carried out a desk-based assessment of the county’s roads, using GIS and remote imagery to assess randomly assigned road sections. Google Earth Street View was used to provide an estimate of the frequency of highway trees in different districts and road types. From this an estimate was made of the total number of trees under public and private ownership, and the number of ash trees. Further work is recommended to increase the accuracy of this estimate.

The Council have identified additional resources to expand their tree inspection programme with survey of additional roads and purchase of tree inspection and management software. The report reviews current tree inspection procedures and provides advice for an expansion of the programme to allow the Council to meet their duty of care and comply with current best practice.

The strategy included advice on the targeting of the survey programme to ensure that roads and tree populations of greater risk were prioritised. Factors considered included road speed and use, total tree population, and the frequency of ash trees.

Ash dieback disease is now prevalent in the county and trees suffering from the disease are likely to represent greater risk to road users. It is proposed to address this by prioritising tree inspection in areas with the highest density of ash trees, monitoring the development of the disease in these trees, and to set a reinspection period appropriate to their condition once surveyed.

This report contains a draft NEC3 Professional Service Contract Scope and Schedule of Rates to assist in the tendering of the survey work.

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