Cheshire East Council has been fined £500,000 at Chester Magistrates Court after the council admitted breaches of health and safety legislation that led to a dog walker's death.
In August 2020, a three-ton branch fell from a lime tree that had previously been identified as a risk, killing father-of-one Chris Hall.
Another limb from the same 134ft tree had fallen the previous year, but a recommendation that the tree be ‘crowned’ was not carried out.
The Health and Safety Executive said the council had no ‘robust’ tree risk management strategy in place at the time of the accident.
Rob Polkinghorne, chief executive of Cheshire East Council, offered condolences and apologised to Mr Hall’s family.
He added that since the accident the council and its wholly-owned company Ansa had adopted a new tree management strategy to improve risk management.
