Trees mistakenly felled on Kinloch Road

JOINT MEDIA RELEASE: TAUPŌ DISTRICT COUNCIL AND HEB CONSTRUCTION

A number of trees were mistakenly felled on Kinloch Road on Wednesday last week.

HEB Construction, which is contracted by Taupō District Council for road maintenance services, have expressed that they are deeply disappointed that this has occurred. HEB is carrying out a full investigation to understand how this has happened despite having all the required controls in place. They are working with council and the community to work out the best way to restore the area.

HEB had been tasked with removing a number of self-sown trees in the road reserve which were too close to the carriageway.

Council staff clearly marked the trees to be removed and in addition instructed that the nearby community-planted trees were to be left alone.

HEB sub-contracted tree removal to an arborist, but, “unfortunately, trees not marked out for removal were also felled,” says Graeme Stokes, contract manager of the project. “We will be replacing the trees that were mistakenly felled with the largest size specimens we will be able to find. Of course, we acknowledge that they won’t be as large as the trees that have already been removed and it will take time for them to grow to fill the gaps.

“We sincerely apologise to the community for the distress caused and to the people who originally planted the trees.”

In all, more than a dozen community trees were felled. The original number was reported as five but a full audit of the site by both HEB and council staff has now confirmed the final number is 16.

Taupō District Council chief executive Julie Gardyne says, for its part, the council also apologises and acknowledges that it should have informed the community of the planned work prior to it happening.

“We work hard to keep our communities engaged and up-to-date with work happening in their area and we have regular Kinloch Representative Group meetings where this could have been raised. Trees are an especially important issue in our local communities and we commit to doing better.

“I want to thank those who noticed that work was happening and alerted council immediately so that staff could attend promptly and stop it.”

While the accidentally-felled trees were significant to the local community, none were designated as protected amenity trees under the Taupō District Plan.