Whist checking the TreePlotter planting locations during the preparation for National Tree Week 2023, Ian McDermott of Birmingham TreePeople, and Andy Allison and Peter Hill of Birmingham City Council, came across a rather ‘dodgy-looking’ tree on Sunridge Avenue, Newtown.

The sizable, white willow tree is situated next to a busy, residential car park, attached to an apartment complex. The tree in question was surrounded by fresh, upturned soil on one side, but the tree is fully-grown and not recently planted. This indicated that the tree had lifted out of the ground, leaning to one side with wind pressure. The roots ripped up from the ground and scattered the soil around it. The tree clearly wobbled on its side and set back down, but this cannot last. A stronger wind will cause the tree to completely topple, thus landing on the packed car park.

An emergency tree removal request has been initiated upon finding the ‘dodgy’, hazardous tree. Without the tree planting celebrations of Tree Week, and the diligent work of these three individuals finalising the tree pit locations, the tree would have eventually fallen onto the adjacent parking. Now that it has been discovered, the community compound will be safe from the oversized, deteriorating tree. A big thanks to them all for locating and promptly dealing with this unstable willow.

Here is our TreePlotter map, that BTP and BCC have been using to record and change tree data, for the tree planting season and National Tree Week 2023: https://uk.pg-cloud.com/BTP/?scenario=2023-Planting-projects-BTP