UP to £7,000 will be spent by Minehead councillors on work to make safe a number of ‘significant’ trees in the town.

A survey of the trees was carried out by a contractor last autumn who looked at the likelihood of failures and the potential impact or harm arising from it.

The contractor recommended work on 14 trees was a high priority, another 14 were classed as medium priority, and 12 more as low priority.

Town clerk Ben Parker said the survey had given the authority a complete and up-to-date understanding of the state of trees in the parks and open space areas of which the Minehead council took ownership from Somerset Council last spring.

Mr Parker said the survey identified a range of works across all the sites, including removal of a small number of trees, dead-wooding operations, and continued monitoring of other trees.

He said the work could be carried out by a combination of in-house open spaces staff and external contractors.

However, Mr Parker said the council would have to use specialist contractors for the higher priority trees due to the nature of the work.

Mr Parker said wherever possible the recommended works prioritised the retention of trees, with mitigating works proposed in the first instance.

This was balanced against the ecological and amenity value of the tree, the financial implications of remedial works, and the anticipated longevity of the tree following intervention.

Mr Parker said the town council had a legal obligation to manage risks associated with trees on its land.

Commissioning a suitably qualified consultant to undertake the survey demonstrated compliance with this duty, and completing the identified works would further ensure councillors met their responsibilities.

Councillors also agreed to investigate opportunities for upskilling their in-house staff for them to be able to undertake some of the tree works.