Veon Arboriculturalists were engaged in overseeing the safe road-side removal of a tree in Co. Mayo following a tree risk assessment report which was conducted earlier. Veon Arboriculture is an independent Arboricultural consultancy and provides professional tree assessments, tree surveys and hedgerow management services to a broad range of clients in the public and private sectors.
Under common law, landowners owe a duty of care to those who might reasonably be expected to be affected by their actions or omissions. Trees are the property of the landowner who is ultimately responsible for their care. It is important to be aware of the full legal extent of land ownership which normally extends to the centre of the road; therefore, it is the landowner – not the local authority – who is responsible for the trees and hedges beside the road.
The Roads Act 1993 requires owners or occupiers of land to take all reasonable steps to ensure that trees or other vegetation on their land are not a hazard to persons using a public road. Local authorities may issue notices to landowners requesting them to maintain or cut back trees or hedges.
If a tree fails (breaks or collapses) and causes injury or damage, the landowner will be held liable if negligent. Negligence will usually depend upon whether the tree was in an obviously dangerous condition, and whether the landowner had a programme of checking and managing roadside trees to ascertain if the accident was reasonably foreseeable and could have been prevented.
An ‘Act of God’ is not a viable defence if the tree involved was obviously defective and the landowner had not checked their trees.
In managing the risk from roadside trees, landowners should take a balanced and proportionate approach. Trees provide many benefits and statistically the risk is low, with serious injury from tree failure being a rare event. We have millions of roadside trees and most do not fail, even in storms. However, landowners have a responsibility to understand and manage the risk from their trees, and a legal duty of care to do so.
Veon Arboriculturalists regularly conduct BS5837 Tree Surveys, Tree Surveys for Planning and Development and Tree Risk Assessments on behalf of landowners and developers.
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