Trees cut down for health and safety
Trees can be ecologically, culturally, and historically important, yet in the UK many councils have decided to cut down trees for health and safety reasons. Many cite litigation as the issue. A tree could be risky to the public if it is left standing. The Tree Council was quite upset with this thought process, enough that they are hoping to gain public sentiment to get the council to stop cutting down trees in public areas.
Obviously, if one interprets health and safety regulations, there is a means to see where trees could be a danger, but as the tree council will tell you, trees are needed for the earth. Already we have enough issues with lack of trees in the world, so cutting down extras that have survived centuries just because of worry, and small worries at that, is incorrect.
There are reasonable causes for trees to be cut down. A tree that is dead and could be a potential fire hazard due to lightning should be removed. A tree that is about to fall over and one that could fall if it is touched with the lightest hand should be cut down or at least shored up so that damage will not occur to a person walking by. So many things that can be done to save trees that are in good condition rather than allow them to fall victim to a potential safety threat.
