By Brendan Rees
A Berwick resident fears falling branches from trees along Harkaway Road could one day seriously hurt or kill someone.
Retiree Rex Day, who has lived in the area for some 30 years, has put out a call to Casey Council to inspect the trees which be believed posed a threat to passing motorists and people who walked on the walkway.
He said some of the branches that were “constantly” falling had been up to 350 millimetres in diameter – or roughly bigger than the size of a cricket ball – with a large gum tree at the corner of Caserta Drive and Harkaway Road of particular concern as branches leaned precariously over the road.
“There’s some real thumping low lying branches,” he said, adding he feared the branches could also fall onto powerlines.
Mr Day said the walkway, which he used every day with his wife, was also overgrown with weeds and was generally in “poor condition” and “never properly addressed” since it was built years ago – which was an “ongoing disappointment” to the area.
“The terrain of the reserve has never been adequately levelled, and made worse after various road and drainage works, making it impossible for the contractors to mow and maintain some areas,” Mr Day said.
Casey Council manager of city presentation David Richardson said the area had been inspected and identified three trees that had died and remedial works would be undertaken in the next two to four weeks to reduce the risk to property and the community.
“These trees will be pruned in a way to retain import habitat for local fauna,” Mr Richardson said. “The low hanging branches from the mature Eucalyptus trees at the intersection of Caserta Drive and Harkaway Road will also be pruned.”
Mr Day said he had been advised by council that maintenance work had been delayed due to a backlog of other works.
“A contractor had previously called me and said that Casey would only permit pruning of branches up to 50 millimetre diameter.”
The issue comes as another neighbour expressed his concerns of dangerous trees along Harkaway Road after a large tree fell onto the road near the corner of Ernst Wanke Road in February. Luckily, no one was harmed.
