Thoughts on these Three Oaks

[adamelder]

These are three oak trees on the road boundary of a piece of woodland I've just bought.

 

It looks to me like there's significant decay in the trunks, splits and dried stem bleeds. There's also the D shaped beetle holes in the trunks.

 

I'd welcome any opinions on whether to ask for removal permission (TPO on the trees) or if remedial work is a possibility.

 

The road was put in in 1989 so I'm thinking that maybe during the construction of that these trees, being very close to have had some root damage at the time leading to weakness later.

[dtms]

Removal and select a few specimen oaks near to them that can supersede them include in the paperwork that they're a risk to the road and the new specimens are better located away from the road as they will end up in better health

 

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[Mick Dempsey]

How busy is the road? What are the crowns like?

[Daniël Bos]

They'll have had nearly 30 years to adapt to the changing circumstances, and sort out the damage that was done when the road was made.

 

The available information isn't near enough to form any kind of reasonable judgement on this tbh (I'm a bit baffled at the above suggestion of fell/replace?), we can see very little of the trees, their crown shape, decay, it does look like the middle tree on the right in the lower picture has suffered some damage?

you mention D-shaped beetle holes but I can't see any?

[adamelder]

How busy is the road? What are the crowns like?

 

Difficult to say what the crowns are like in leaf. I've only been there in winter. The road is used by a new-ish housing development of about 20 houses. It's not a through road so that's the only traffic.

 

Looking up into the trees, I can see a fair few dead limbs.

 

There are houses to the left of the pic just out of shot that would be in range of a faller if it went in that direction.

 

The Residents Association have expressed concerns over the trees.

[Mick Dempsey]

I'm always one for an opinion but in this case (bearing in mind their situation) I reckon a proper inspection by a qualified sort is the only option.

[adamelder]

Thank you for the thoughts gents. I've written to the Council Tree Officer this morning asking for advice.

[adamelder]

That was quick. Tree Officer came out, took a look and said remove the three oaks as soon as possible. Severe agrilus infestation with extensive structural decay.

[Mick Dempsey]

Appreciate the update. Thanks