Dear Editor,

The statement in your report on the removal of the claret ash from Broad Street which, according to Balfour Beatty, was dead echoed that in the previous week’s edition claiming that the magnificent old beech tree in the Prospect was also dead: in fact the beech is very much alive, as was the ash at the time it was felled.

While the loss of the limb from the beech tree has not seriously affected either its safety or its health, I do accept that the felling of the ash was justified. However we should be clear that the reason for this was not because it had died but because its safety had been compromised as a result of lack of maintenance over many years: the cast iron grille fitted around the base of the tree when it was planted had never been adjusted or removed, with the result that as the trunk grew it became so constricted by the encircling metalwork that there was a developing risk that the tree might simply break at that point. Its foliage was sparse and its condition declining. But dead it was not.

To declare one living tree to be dead may be regarded as a mistake; to do it twice looks like carelessness - or worse. It is worrying that Balfour Beatty, a company that chooses to append the words ‘Living Places’ to its name, should seemingly be unable to distinguish the living from the dead.

Be that as it may, let us hope that the currently vacant planting pit will soon be reoccupied by a replacement tree, and that it will be duly maintained so that similar needless losses can be avoided in future.

Jerry Ross

Arboricultural ConsultantEditor's Note: Following inspection by Balfour Beatty it was confirmed that the tree at the Prospect which lost its large limb was not dead, but the damage had made the tree unstable which means that it is possibly going to have to be removed. A spokesman for Balfour Beatty Living Places, on behalf of Herefordshire Council, told the Ross Gazette removing the fallen branch had left the structure of the remaining tree unstable, and therefore the tree must be removed for safety reasons.