Trees 1 & 2: Horse chestnuts. The two mature horse chestnuts, approximately 24m in height, contain included unions arising from historic…

Official description

Trees 1 & 2: Horse chestnuts. The two mature horse chestnuts, approximately 24m in height, contain included unions arising from historic pollard points at approximately 15m. Such unions represent recognised structural weaknesses, with Smiley (2003) demonstrating significantly reduced attachment strength where included bark is present. Subsequent biomechanical research by Kane et al. (2008) and Slater (2010?present) further supports the management of structurally compromised unions through appropriate load reduction. A crown reduction of approximately 4?5m is therefore proposed to reduce sail area and bending moments acting upon these unions, materially reducing the likelihood of structural failure whilst retaining both trees, their principal framework and their substantial amenity value. The presence of both trees growing together means that the treatment which is more applicable for tree 1, must equally be applied to tree 2 in order to prevent changes in oscillation through the respective canopies and future upper canopy limb failure.