Following the REFUSAL of a planning application from a local Authority, to have a tree which was protected by a TPO removed, Thor’s Trees recommended to do a little further investigating into the management of this very large Poplar tree in Hampstead, North London.
What looked like a beautiful, healthy & safe tree has turned out to be an extremely decayed, unstable and dangerous standing structure, with high footfall of pedestrians walking below every day. Should our client not have trusted our opinion, this would have no doubt caused a lot of damage, potentially injuries or at worst fatalities.
The tree is a standing Pollard which previously had ivy growing up the main stem and throughout the canopy – Covering all the dangers of what lay underneath!!..
Today, after reports of the tree moving 2 inches, we removed all the ivy and have uncovered the extreme decay, not only at the base of the tree, but throughout the main stem, with less than 10% holding wood!!!..
When the arborist was in the tree, the tree was rocking from side to side and was reporte to be very unstable!!.
The pictures also show fungal brackets growing from within the main stem cavity. When probed there is less than 10% of the root plate holding up the tree. When kicked at the base, for audible inspection, the trunk crumbled and exposed the non-existent root plate. It is of our professional opinion that the tree is only being held up by the adjacent brick wall and the metal railing. The tree has extreme bark delamination (falling off) on the back side.
Thor’s Trees have now processed a 5 Day DD to the Local Planning Authority (LPA) on behalf of the client and will be liaising with the LPA as their professional agents to safely have our expert Tree Surgeons remove and replace to retain the amenity value the tree has to the community and local tree-scape!
If you have a tree that you would like to have inspected or removed, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with one of the team!
Thor’s Trees are here to help!!!
