Esther McVey has secured a meeting with government ministers in the fight to force councils to carry out regular maintenance and safety inspections of trees following the tragic death of a man killed by a tree branch.
Chris Hall was killed while he was walking his dog along The Carrs in Wilmslow, in August 2020. Since his death, his wife Fiona and son Sam have campaigned to introduce Chris’ Law in the hope no other family will endure the suffering they have.
Environment Minister Mary Creagh agreed to the meeting during a Parliamentary debate led by Ms McVey.
Ms McVey said: “While I am delighted to have secured the meeting and hope the minister and department can make this happen as soon as possible, we must remember this should never have happened and must never happen again. Chris’s death was preventable. Cheshire East Council knew the tree was unsafe as just a year earlier, a limb had fallen off the same tree but despite recommendations by the council’s contractors, the tree was not crowned, no action was taken to mitigate its risk, or to warn the public of the danger the tree presented.
“Fiona and Sam’s determination to campaign for change is nothing short of inspiring, driven by a desire to ensure no other family endures that they have suffered, and we owe it to them to work collaboratively for this cause to push for clear standards for local authorities that cannot be skirted or sidelined.”
Last year Cheshire East were fined £500,000 for gross negligence. Councils are required to ensure public safety but there is no statutory duty on them to carry out regular inspections of trees on public land, leading to the ad hoc maintenance in different parts of the country.
During the debate Ms McVey told MPs how Chris’s Law would end the current reactionary approach to maintenance.
She said: “Chris’s Law would require councils to maintain a register of high-risk trees, identified by location, species and age and to legislate to ensure those trees are inspected on a regular basis. This is not all trees but a targeted approach which is manageable for councils and presents a cost-effective solution.
“Trees as beautiful as they are, have a life span and a life expectancy and as they get old, they get sick, they get weak, they decay, it is a predictable life cycle. Therefore, it is safe to say after a certain age, trees need to be inspected.”
Ms McVey said there will be records of when trees were planted and without maintenance work there will be more tragic incidents like Chris’s.
She said successive governments had spent millions of pounds planting trees with the current government pledging £800 million for this, and called on them to link the commitment of maintenance to spending.
A petition started by Mrs Hall calling for a change in the law has secured nearly 35,000 signatures in just four weeks.
