By Brendan Rees
A Cranbourne resident is in a stand-off with the City of Casey over a “bloody big” council tree she says is causing havoc to her home.
Kerrie Welbourn has been battling Casey Council for 10 years to have the tree on the nature strip outside her Duff Street home removed.
She said leaves, bark, twigs and branches from the Red Flowering Gum were clogging her drains and roof gutters.
“My roof gets covered in it,” Ms Welbourn said. “I physically have to get up there and scrap it all out. It’s not my job to do that – it shouldn’t be there.”
She also likened her front footpath as a “skate ramp” due to the trees’ root systems lifting the concrete and creating multiple cracks.
“There ended up being a step on the footpath because the tree lifted the concrete up that much,” Mr Welbourn said.
She said council workers came out to “bridge the gaps” on the footpath but “that all disintegrated and fell apart so you’ve got an even bigger step.”
“Instead of the footpath being flat now, it looks like a little raised area.”
Casey manager of city presentation, David Richardson says the tree had been inspected a “number of times” by arborists including last week and did not require “further works or removal.”
“Council has undertaken minor works on the tree when necessary in the past to address the resident’s concerns,” he said
“Council has not received any claims for private property damage and the footpath has been repaired to allow for the tree.”
“There’s a chance with a few big wind gusts it’s going to be on my roof.
“They told me they were going to take some of the height off it which they haven’t done,” she said.
Maurice Blackburn public safety lawyer Dimi Ioannou said councils had to ensure footpaths were kept safe and regularly maintained so they weren’t open to trips and falls by the public.
“They have a duty to take reasonable care to prevent the foreseeable risk of injury arising from uneven footpaths,” she said.
“Councils could be held liable where they have undertaken works but performed it negligently and if found liable pedestrians can potentially make a claim for pain and suffering damages and medical expenses.”
Ms Ioannou added if councils have prior knowledge of a defect with uneven footpaths and fail to “remedy or rectify the hazard” they could be found liable.
