Yass Valley Council seems to have forgotten the safety of the individual or the monies of the ratepayer.

Being an owner of business district real estate I have had the experience of asking Council to prune a tree and address root ingression in the footpath, getting no response, yet seeing the footpath get fixed the day after a local woman fell and fractured her hand.

I then had to argue for a year as Council said the pruning was a waste of time as the tree would regrow and that Essential Energy said the electricity wires going through the tree head were of no concern.

Only after a legal agreement and at the 11th hour did council prune the tree.

Don’t tell council, I went down that night after they did half a job, and cut another 1.5 metres so that the power lines then cleared the branches.

We then have an ex-councillor who fell near the Post Office/NAB and injured his elbow along with others who have fallen in this area.

Last week there was another Yass woman taking a fall in front of council chambers. The next day saw a flurry of work to rectify the uneven tree border pavers and lumps in the footpath.

My experience in asking Council about the size of trees, root ingression, excess leaf litter in gutters and general appearance of trees found the reason that problems exist.

There is no programmed maintenance. The trees just get bigger, rub buildings, invade footpaths and foundations, as now higher that roof line, fill gutters and block downpipes and give the town the unkept look.

By comparison have a look at the trees in front of Pauls Electrical and the old Tribune building in Lead St. Neat, tidy and in proportion to the buildings and the street scape.

Council Management’s management is ensuring ad hock repairs, litigation, higher insurance premiums and direct compensation along with the pain and suffering of those injured is the return on our rates. 

Not good enough.  

Touie Smith Snr,

Yass