Action scheduled
Horse Chestnut entering retrenchment age
Sent to Northumberland County Council less than a minute later. FixMyStreet ref: 8379927.
This mature horse chestnut is estimated to be 140-150 years old, likely planted when the Tyne Green Park was established in the late 19th century. The tree appears to be entering retrenchment age and has already suffered multiple branch failures — at least seven in total, including one major structural limb tear-out comparable in size to the remaining primary limbs. Several of the failures show classic signs of long-limb end-weight failure, occurring partway along extended laterals. The largest failure has left a broad tear in the main framework, altering the crown’s balance and exposing the remaining limbs to increased loading. The tree now supports several long, heavy, and partly horizontal limbs extending over the car park and access road, which may be at heightened risk of similar failure as the tree continues to age and retrench.
This is a high-use public area within the park, situated close to a children’s playground and public toilets, with frequent pedestrian and vehicle traffic beneath the canopy — making the potential consequence of further limb failure significant.
I believe it would be worthwhile considering some retrenchment-style pruning to reduce end-weight and leverage on these limbs while maintaining the tree’s overall vitality and character.
Updates
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Your report has been forwarded to the appropriate department. Please note, we are only able to inspect trees that are dead, damaged, diseased or causing a physical obstruction as a priority. All general tree maintenance work requests that are causing no risk of harm to people or property will be dealt with as resources allow.
We are unable to provide a time frame for inspections and works relating to low priority requests. For more information follow https://www.northumberland.gov.uk/ roads-and-streets/ report-tree-issue
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Tree is to be reduced due to multiple failures in recent years, the age and species of the tree. thank you for your report. We will look to schedule this work in.
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Tree is to be reduced due to multiple failures in recent years. thank you for your report.
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