Half of landowners repay Storm Goretti tree bills

Only half of landowners asked to repay the States of Guernsey for the costs of tree surgery needed as a result of Storm Goretti have agreed to pay, the government says.

Traffic and Highways Service sent a total of 32 letters to landowners who had trees fall from their properties on to public roads during the storm on 8 January.

Officials said about 200 public incidents of obstructed roads were logged at the time, with the resulting work costing £82,788.

Six months on, less than half of that sum - £33,788 - has been repaid, the States said, revealing just 16 landowners agreed to pay the fees. Bosses said they respected some were "not prepared to pay for work they had not commissioned".

Phil Ogier, road and traffic manager, said: "Traffic & Highway Services welcomes that some landowners decided to reimburse the States of Guernsey for costs incurred, but also respects that others were not prepared to pay for work they had not commissioned."

Storm Goretti brought wind speeds of 95mph (154km/h) on the night of 8 January with hundreds of trees reported to have fallen.

Traffic and Highways said responsibility for clearing obstructions from the road rested with landowners but, due to the need to clear public highways, the government called out contractors at public expense.

Ogier noted: "It is important to remember Storm Goretti hit overnight with a very significant number of trees and branches falling from private property and impacting the public highway.

"There are complexities in this scenario surrounding contacting landowners to discuss necessary works, and to have done so first would have led to delays in the clear-up operation."

In March, landowners told of their shock after receiving bills for the removal of the tress.

Ogier said the decision to instruct tree surgeons to clear roads was done "with the intention of the road network being able to return to normal as soon as was practical following Storm Goretti".

The traffic manager also said the move had "positive benefits" for things such as opening access routes for emergency services, reinstating bus services and providing access to schools.

He said no landowners were invoiced for tree surgery works without receipt of confirmation that they were willing to pay.

Of the future, he added: "If an event of this scale were to arise again, it is likely that action would be taken to clear trees and branches from major roads as soon as possible with attempts then made to recoup costs from landowners."

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