Tree claims untrue

IN response to the letter from Ray Taylor in the Times’ September 2 edition headlined ‘Unsuitable tree’, there seems to be a lot of misinformation about the Russell Road trees.

People assume, without proof, that there are issues with safety and the roots. This is untrue.

Root barriers were put in when the road was upgraded to protect the houses across the road before they were built. Has anyone seen any reports that state these houses have sustained damage or does everyone just assume (because they don’t know about the barriers)?

I can attest that none of the new houses built on Westbury Lane have any threat of structural integrity. I built one of these homes and we had to excavate to a great depth at the rear of the blocks (closest to the trees) to remove underground pipes and tanks. There was not one tree root found during the excavation and no disclosure is required.

The life expectancy of these trees is 100; another 45 years, not another 10 years. Many councils around Australia manage fig trees without any issues, including the City of Wanneroo.

The arborist who inspected the trees most recently put their risk of causing injury to person or property at 1:500,000. If you stood under these trees continuously for 12 months, you would be at risk for six minutes.

You have more risk of being struck by lightning.

In the past 12 months, there have been no calls to the City requesting the removal of fallen branches or blocked drains. It has not had to repair damage to paths, kerbs or roadways: just as there has been no proof of snakes, rats, drug deals or youths drinking under the trees.

These trees are iconic and historical to Madeley. They are extremely important to the environment and they were here before the houses.

Those who live opposite have some inconvenience but I don’t believe they weren’t aware of this when they bought.

They would do better to ask the community to help them to clean up, rather than remove the trees.

The community has spoken loud and clear that it wants the trees to stay. I call for them to be heritage listed because that fits their importance and stature and protects them from the uninformed who want to destroy them.

JUDY STONEHOUSE, Madeley