ARCHIVED news story
Council closes car park over tree risk
Released on 28 July 2009
South Norfolk Council has been forced to close Mount Street car park in Diss for a short period on advice from experts after they inspected a diseased tree spanning the entrance and exit roads.
Their inspection showed that the tree - a Caucasian Wingnut which has been split in two by a fungal disease - could collapse in heavy rain or very bad weather.
If it did, it would fall across a wide area, including the car park entrance and exit ways, which are used almost every day by shoppers and by patients visiting the nearby doctors' surgery.
Councillor David Bills, Cabinet Member for Environment, Health, Recycling and Safety said:
"The safety of local people is our first concern. And while this is a beautiful tree and the car park is well used, we cannot take risks and go against the strong advice we have received today (28 July).
"Therefore it is with regret that we must close the Mount Street car park from approximately 6am tomorrow (29 July) until further notice, and assure our residents that it will be reopened as soon as we are advised to do so.
"We apologise for the inconvenience and the short notice, but we would ask people to understand the seriousness of this, and bear with us."
The tree has already had an initial inspection, ordered by the district council. More serious tests of the tree's stability will follow this week.
That first inspection by Ravencroft Arboricultural Services strongly recommended that a safety zone be set up of at least 15 metres around the tree - its current height - and that the public and vehicles should be excluded from the zone.
That recommendation effectively covers the entrance and exit ways to the car park, and parts of the car park itself. The slip road and six parking spaces next to the health centre are not affected.
There will be signs advising the public of the closure on Mount Street and signs in the adjacent pedestrian area and by the tree.
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