Update as leaning tree over London Road, Balderton, is inspected

A tree leaning over a busy main road in Balderton has been inspected.

District and county councillor for Balderton Johno Lee said an inspector visited the tree on London Road on Wednesday.

The tree is a twin-stemmed Oak that has an unusual growth pattern which has existed for years.

Mr Lee said the leaning was largely due to its proximity to neighbouring trees, in particular, the Beech which is now a 3-4m stump.

"The removal of the Beech has created a gap between the Oak and existing Beech/Lime, although some responsive growth has occurred over the last few years — this is visible on one of the Oak stems," he said.

"The lower scaffold limbs over the carriageway have been reduced largely visible as 2-4m stubs with re-growth, and whilst many of the longer limbs within the upper crown are catching the wind, their associated unions appear structurally ok from a ground-based inspection.

"The soil level is raised on the property side and there are some historic cracks within the macadam surface surrounding the stem base, but as mentioned, these are historic.

"The main bifurcation of the co-dominant stems at 4m is slightly masked by the skeletal Ivy, some slight stretching of bark but no obvious buckling to suggest subsidence on the compression side of the stem."

Me Lee said the tree was catching wind as expected, but that this was not considered to be an imminent risk to highways users.

"Going forward, will advice the resident to monitor it more frequently and take action when necessary," he said.