Lucky break has church asking for tree review

It was a New Year miracle that nobody was killed when a controversial and historic Havelock North tree shed a limb yesterday afternoon.
The chunk of blue gum situated on St Columba's Church land in Te Mata Rd, fell on its owner's land, rather than towards the Havelock North Domain, where its normal week-day neighbours are the Plunket rooms and a playground.
Late last year, the Hastings District Council, acting after advice from its hearings committee, decided the tree at the church site would remain protected.
Almost 1300 people had signed a petition to save it after the church asked that it be removed.
The church believed it was a risk to people and cars because it could drop branches, and it also hoped to develop the site.
In light of yesterday's big drop, Reverend Roger Gillies said: "Perhaps we need to revisit that. "When you see the size of the limb that's come down it's frightening. It's just wonderful that no one has been injured this time." The tree had a "history of dropping branches", he said, and the limb that had fallen looked "unwell".
Yet the hearings committee said arborists agreed it was "in good health and an outstanding specimen".
The church's concerns could be managed via "continual assessment, maintenance of the tree and careful planning of the surrounding area", the committee said.
At the time, the church said it was spending as much as $3000 every two to three years for upkeep and it had been suggested that the council should provide support for people with historic trees on their property.
Hastings district councillor Mick Lester, who chaired the hearing that reviewed the heritage list, said the council was not prepared to comment until its officers had a chance to properly assess the tree's state.
Harry Trigg, who went against his own church to collect signatures to save the blue gum, said the tree would need to be assessed by experts to determine what caused the limb to fall.
Mr Trigg said he was relieved no one had been hurt and believed the branch might have been affected by the recent high winds.
"If the specialist arborist says this poses a severe risk to people in Havelock North then I would back off," Mr Trigg said.
"But if it can be saved I would still like to see it saved."