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A SAFETY review into ageing trees at public schools is running months behind schedule.
A Department of Education spokesperson previously told the Western Advocate the review should be completed by the end of the second school term, but, the review is now expected to run until the end of September.
The spokesperson said following advice from the Institute of Australian Consulting Arboculturualists and the Royal Botanical Gardens, the Department was only using arborists with an industry recognised AQF5 diploma, Public Liability Insurance of $20 million and Professional Indemnity Insurance of $5 million.
“These stringent requirements significantly narrowed the field of appropriately qualified arborists,” the spokesperson said. “Which has resulted in the timeframe for completion of the assessments having to be revised.”
While the spokesperson could not indicate which schools in the Bathurst region had been assessed, they said all public schools in the area had or would be assessed and the cost of any work required for safety reasons would be met by the Department.
Bathurst arborist Oliver Shoemark said he believed a number of Bathurst schools had yet to be reviewed.
“The level five arborist does the tree risk assessment report, which is then passed onto local arborists who can go in and do the required work,” he said. “I haven’t gone to any (Bathurst schools) yet.”
He said if a tree was marked as urgent it had to be fenced off and removed within six weeks, but said school’s could wait up to six months to remove some trees.
Mr Shoemark said he had removed trees at Meadow Flat Public, Sofala Public and was removing trees from a number of Mudgee schools over the holidays.
“There’s definitely a lot of trees that have been let go over the years due to restricted budgets of the schools,” he said.
“I took down a big tree out the front of Sofala which was 70 per cent rotten – and was right at the entrance of the school.”
Mr Shoemark was at Cudgegong Valley Public School during the school holidays where 24 trees needed to be removed or cut back.
“The principal here said that two trees in the car park had been a particular problem as their branches had fallen on cars in the past,” he said. “They are over the moon that they are gone, especially with all the winds of late.”
He said a tree at Cudgegong, which had even been approved by the level five arborist, was split in half by high winds that hit the Central Tablelands.
Despite the incidents, Mr Shoemark does not believe the slower than expected review would be a big problem for schools in Bathurst.
“A lot of principals at Bathurst schools have been very proactive, even on their tight budget,” he said.
“They have got us out there in years past to take out dangerous trees. If there was a major problem I think the schools would be on top of it.”