Trafford’s Tree Policy has been in place for a number of years and required updating to ensure it meets with current tree management and maintenance principles and best practice. The Council has a duty under the Health and Safety at Work Act to have in place an effective system for managing trees that ensures trees do not present a risk to the public mainly from falling in their entirety or also from falling branches.

The updated Tree Management Policy 2023 covers how the Council will manage the tree stock in addition to ensuring that it is safe. The document also identifies how the council will respond to tree planting, requests for tree pruning, tree removal and other impacts that trees can have on the public, land or highway and endorses best practice procedures that have already been implemented as required during the life of the previous agreed policy.

Consultation on an updated Tree Management Principles document had been undertaken in June 2020. Due to the timing of this previous consultation coinciding with the onset of the pandemic there were no substantive responses received at that time. This policy has been reviewed following a subsequent audit of the service in 2021/22 and hence is also re-titled as a Policy document with more up to date information.

That the publication for consultation of the updated policy for the management and maintenance of trees in Trafford be approved.

The existing tree policy is out of date and requires updating to reflect current issues surrounding the management and maintenance of trees.

The option to continue to manage trees referring to the existing policy was considered however, it does not address the current issues facing the longer term management and maintenance of trees.