Ash trees

  1. How many roadside ash trees are there within your council boundary? If a total number is not known, have any surveys of numbers of roadside ash been carried out within your boundary and if so, what were the results? (For clarity, by “roadside ash” I am referring to ash trees (any Fraxinus species) that are close enough to a road that they could potentially fall onto or drop debris onto the road.)

In the most recent survey undertaken in 2014 in response to the arrival of Ash Dieback disease we estimated that there were 447,637 roadside ash In the Devon County Council Area. The survey was undertaken by surveying small sample areas and then extrapolating up to the entire county so there is a potential large margin of error.

  1. (a) How many urban ash trees are there within your boundary, and

We do not have a specific breakdown of urban trees. In the survey mentioned above we estimated there were 324 roadside ash trees within the Exeter City Council area within Devon County Council. Exeter is the only city within the Devon County Council area but there are other built up areas.

 (b) what is the breakdown of these between public and private property?

The breakdown between publicly owned and privately owned roadside ash trees within the Exeter City Council area was estimated to be 290 privately owned trees and 34 publicly owned trees  – the figure for privately owned trees includes all non-Devon County Council owned trees, so will include those owned by other public bodies such as Exeter City Council – see link to district councils below.

 (c) If this is not known, how many trees of any species are there within your boundary?

We do not hold information on the total number of trees of all species within the Devon County Council Area.

  1. If known, what is the total area of parks, gardens, greens and common land within your boundary?

Devon County Council does not hold this information.  Parks, gardens, greens and common land is the responsibility of district, unitary or city councils   We therefore recommend that you contact them directly using the information on the link provided.

  1. (a) What was the total amount of money spent by your council on insuring trees in the last financial year (2016-17)?

 Whilst the public liability premium will relate to trees and open spaces it also relates to ALL the Council’s services, property, land etc. so it is impossible to allocate a proportion of money spent on trees where DCC is insuring ‘trees’ in the event of injury or damage / injury caused by the trees to a third party or a third party property rather than insuring the trees themselves.

(b) And what was the total amount spent on public liability insurance overall?

The overall annual premium for public and employers liability for Devon County Council in the 2017 insurance year is £471,295.