Grantham councillor calls for tree safety review after Wyndham Park incident

A councillor has called for a safety review of trees in a town park after one suddenly collapsed across a footpath on a calm, sunny day.

South Kesteven district councillor Coun Matthew Bailey (Con) said he was “concerned” that a large, healthy-looking tree could fall without warning, particularly in such a well-used public space as Wyndham Park, in Grantham.

The tree, which blocked the path between Redcross Street bridge and Sedgwick Meadows on Thursday, May 1, has since been cleared by South Kesteven District Council.

“As a frequent visitor of Wyndham Park with my own family, I was concerned why a large, perfectly healthy-looking tree falls on a calm, sunny day,” said Coun Bailey.

“Thankfully, no-one was hurt in the incident, but I urgently requested council officers investigate the cause.”

Following a report by the council’s tree officer, he then asked for a review of all other trees bought from the same stock.

“I hope this provides reassurance that our parks remain safe to use and families can continue to enjoy our community spaces in the summer months to come,” he added.

A council spokesperson said: “The council recognises its duty of care to the public and, therefore, has an inspection and maintenance programme for all trees on publicly accessible land that is owned by the council.

“The trees in Wyndham Park are scheduled for inspection this year and any essential maintenance work that is identified will be carried out.

“Fortunately, failures of this nature in trees of this size are rare… A structural root on one side of this particular tree had decayed and the tree may also have suffered winter storm damage.”

The council added there was no evidence to suggest this was anything other than an isolated incident and said it was unlikely that the factors which contributed to its failure would have been externally visible.