Roger Harmer

Concern was caused over the weekend that some of the mature trees along the Yardley Road might be about to be cut down. In fact all that was planned, and carried out, was routine pruning of the trees. However the notices, warning that the work was to be carried out, only went up on Friday evening, with the work to be carried out on Sunday. Not only did this fail to meet the standard 2 weeks notice but it meant that Amey (who carry out the work as part of the Highways Maintenance PFI) could not be contacted to check what was planned, as it was the weekend.

I have received an apology from Amey and an undertaking to meet the two week notice period in the future, so that any concerns about work on trees can be checked in good time in the future.

By coincidence I received a Leisure Scrutiny report today entitled “Trees in the Public Highway – PFI Issues” This report includes an exerpt from the PFI agreement which states (under para 2.3.12) “The Service Provider (Amey) shall not remove a tree from the Project Network (Birmingham’s roads) without the written consent of the Authority (Birmingham City Council) unless removal is required as a Category 1 Defect (the tree represents an immediate or imminent hazard or creates a risk of short term structural deterioration)”. Overall the document makes it clear that street trees have just as much protection under the Highways PFI as they did when the Council carried out the work itself.