A FED up resident has hit out over the delay it takes to get trees trimmed back in Redditch.
Philip Blaydon, who lives near the town centre, said: “Redditch borough council tenants might complain about trees blocking light from windows and so but requests to get work done can be forgotten about.”
He added that when he contacted the authority to get some trees pruned he was told it could take 12 months before the work is carried out.
“Only persistence using many reminders or if the bough or branch becomes dangerous will get something done,” said Mr Blaydon.
He added the cause of the problem seemed to be that the borough was short of tree surgeons and often helped out neighbouring Bromsgrove district which covers a much larger area.
“When a proper job will solve the problem for years the tree surgeons have so many other jobs to do, often only a brief trim gets done,” he claimed.
Guy Revans, head of environmental services at the council said: “One of our town’s most fantastic assets is that it is a very green area, and this is something we are very proud of.
“The flip side of this however, is that it brings with it a lot of maintenance work; much of which is determined by our residents and the enquiries they make. “This means demand can fluctuate at times and we are currently very busy.
“To add to this, we temporarily have a reduced number of staff available.
“This is something we are working towards resolving and are considering the use of contractors to reduce the backlog.
“Regardless of this, we respond to and assess all enquiries and if we believe there are any safety issues or other matters that need to be addressed more immediately then they will be given priority.”
