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HAVING read your article ("Row grows over risk from trees", Lakes Mail, June 12), I share the concerns of the Mirrabooka residents regarding the attitude of Lake Macquarie City Council to the removal of trees which would threaten their properties if felled by the weather.
I strongly suggest they are not alone in their concern.
As the article indicated, Lake Macquarie council have been tardy in this regard.
Other local councils are implementing procedures to permit the removal of certain risk-prone trees without further consent being required.
As a tenet of occupational heath and safety, if a danger to life or limb is perceived, it must be removed.
Furthermore, it is surely socially and morally wrong that any householders, especially the elderly, should be subject to a degree of apprehension - indeed one may well say fear - whenever strong winds are predicted.
The current easing of restrictions for tree removal for fire prevention purposes is not applicable to guard against windfall.
A simple calculation taking into the height of the tree and its distance from the structure will indicate if any danger exists and the removal of any tree within this parameter should be permitted.
As other correspondents have noted, during the recent storm event, many apparently sound trees fell victim to the wind.
- John Shoebridge, Dora Creek