As trees topple, Camden Council calls in its own special branch

Published: 5th May, 2011
by TOM FOOT

IT may not quite be our Day of the Triffids. But giant urban trees in Camden are suddenly uprooting themselves and causing carnage, forcing residents to look uneasily over their shoulders.

Camden Council officials warned yesterday (Wednesday) of the “freak accident of nature” after a healthy and recently inspected 40ft Indian Horse Chestnut crashed on to two people in Haverstock Hill, Belsize Park, on Sunday.

The Town Hall said it would launch a “thorough investigation” after the chunky boughs – which showed no signs of decay – pinned a pensioner to the pavement and grazed another man’s back. Both were taken to the Royal Free Hospital and treated for cuts and shock.

“Thankfully, the emergency services got there pretty quick,” said passer-by Sian Ophelia Levett.

After an hour, police officers attempted to drag the heavy branches, which have exotic 

hermaphrodite pink blossom flowers, out of the road.  But the rest of the tree came toppling down next to them.

“They therefore abandoned their attempt to remove the initial branch,” said Desmond King, who lives in Belsize Grove.

Indian Horse Chestnuts were introduced to Britain in the late 19th century and they can grow up to 100ft tall.  

Mr King said: “There was no rot, no disease. The tree was bone dry, there was clearly a lack of moisture. I checked all the trees in that line and they are all suffering from severe cracking. It could be the first of many. You have to ask: are the trees safe in Belsize Park?”

The Indian Horse Chestnut is at least the third to collapse in Camden within a week after recent incidents in West End Lane, Highgate and King’s Cross. And a rotten 60ft False Acacia Tree almost killed plumber Gabriel Moreti when it fell in high winds and crashed on his head in Primrose Hill Gardens, Belsize, in January.

An even bigger tree fell near primary schools from the gardens of the former headquarters of the Jesuits in Britain in Nutley Terrace, Hampstead, in October.

And last May, a 40-footer crashed into a moving van in Lyndhurst Road, injuring the driver, and a second fell a week later outside The Hill school in Parkhill Road, Belsize Park. A taxi driver suffered severe head injuries when a 70ft West Hampstead poplar crushed him in his cab in May 2009.

Professional tree surgeon and arborist Simon Causer, of North London Trees, said healthy trees might be falling because of the unusually hot weather and a lack of water.

He added: “If trees are not maintained, they just die. The main problem these days is getting councils to respond to applications. I assume it’s because of the cuts.”

A council spokeswoman said: “We have a robust tree inspection and maintenance programme in place for all our street trees.”

Health and Safety Executive guidance states: “Each year between five and six people in the UK are killed when trees fall on them. Thus the risk of being struck and killed by a tree falling is extremely low. Around three people are killed each year by trees in public spaces – but as almost the entire population of the UK is exposed, the risk per person is about one in 20 million. However the low level of overall risk may not be perceived in this way by the public.”