Home destroyed by a saved tree

[grandmoon]

A TREE that residents wanted removed - but a council arborist wanted heritage listed - has smashed into a Sydney house, narrowly missing the owners who now find themselves homeless.

The 27m-high Norfolk Island pine came down in wild weather at Allambie Heights on the weekend, crashing through the roof near the bedroom of Rock and Kendall Davis-Bogan. The couple are furious Warringah Council was warned the tree was unstable but refused a request by their neighbour on whos property it was growing, to cut it down less than two years ago.

"Through no fault of ours, or our neighbours, this tree has smashed our house and destroyed our lives," Mrs Davis-Bogan told the Manly Daily yesterday.

Such is the damage the house might have to be demolished. When their neighbour wrote to the council in June 2011, asking for permission to remove the tree, he stated it was growing in just 50cm of soil and did not have deep roots.

But the council rejected the request, ruling it should be heritage listed.

A council spokesperson said the inspection was undertaken 18 months ago and "tree conditions can change over time".

ee was unstable but refused a request by their neighbour, on whose property it was

[not_an_eloi]

perhaps abbott-the-opportunist will press-manage 'imself into the picture. 

[adingotookmybacon]

tony lifting the tree alone...tony rebuilding the house (can imagine him holding a brick and a trowel) LOL

why does chuck norris come to my mind? ?:| :^O

[icyfroth]

erm...when did Mr Abbot enter stage right?

[not_an_eloi]

warringah's abbott's patch,

 a recent poll found that one in four Australians thought Tony Abbott would be well cast as the villain in a James Bond film, a lay down mizere up for the part of dr. no

B-)

[adingotookmybacon]

just glue some hair on him and stick him in a cage with chimps, no one will notice.

and they won't get him out as they wouldn't be able to tell which one was him....

[*mrswormwood*]

If they have no insurance, wouldn't they sue the neighbour's insurance company who would then sue the council.

The tree was in the neighbour's yard, wasn't it?

[punch*drunk]

A friend of mine had a similar thing happen. They tried to have several trees removed when they built, they had a report stating that the trees were dying due to lack of water since the road and drains had been put in. The neighbors complained and they were restricted to only removing what was completely necessary to build the house.

First storm happened, 5 trees dropped. Minor damage to my friends house, a neighboring fence ruined and one narrowly missed the neighbors house. Apparently neighbor was furious at having to make claim for fence (and pay excess) on his own insurance, yet he had signed the petition to stop them being remove. Sometimes people go a bit overboard when it comes to saving trees, especially in built up areas.

[syrupsmummy]

This thread makes me worried.

I have a Norfolk Island pine in our backyard which council rejected our application to remove it. The reason was it's a prominent tree. It's so tall i don't know how tall.It will crash one of 4 houses whichever direction it falls.

[not_an_eloi]

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/northern-beaches/tree-fall-prompts-action-from-warringah-...

warringah council refused to give any assistance whatsoever, when my mate at newport 'ad the same thing 'appen, to 'im.  

massive gum tree, that he'd tried twice to get permission to remove,  fell on the house and shifted it on its piers, demolished the front two rooms (would 'ave been in that front room at that same time any other day).    

[cherples]

This thread makes me worried.

I have a Norfolk Island pine in our backyard which council rejected our application to remove it. The reason was it's a prominent tree. It's so tall i don't know how tall.It will crash one of 4 houses whichever direction it falls.

Norfolk pines were very popular for a while but they grow very tall and need to be replaced. In some places I saw every second tree removed for new ones and when the new ones grew the other very tall ones were removed and replaced.

In other areas they grew so tall they caused trouble and were all removed rather than replanting. Norfolk pines should not be heritage listed or protected unless they are going to be properly managed/replaced as necessary.