By Oliver Lees
A Sunbury resident has been left stumped after Hume council decided not to provide compensation for damage sustained to her property, despite the issue stemming from a council planted tree.
On October 29 last year, extreme winds caused one council gum tree and part of a second gum tree to fall over in front of Simone Valenti’s Sunbury home.
The force of the tree’s fall caused a rupture in Ms Valenti’s concrete retaining wall.
Ms Valenti said she has protested the placement of gum trees in the stormwater gully outside her house for years, with concerns that they would collapse due to the roots becoming unstable.
She estimated that four gum trees have fallen on the street in the last three years.
“You don’t put gum trees into a gully where large amounts of storm water gathers, because when they’re sitting in that amount of water, the tree can easily fall,” she said.
“Someone is going to end up getting killed.”
After having the damage assessed it was estimated that the works to repair the damage would cost approximately $5000.
Ms Valenti said after her private insurer refused to foot the bill she decided to seek financial assistance from council.
In a letter seen by Star Weekly, Hume council stated that they did not believe Ms Valenti would be able to establish council’s legal liability in relation to the damage.
The letter stated that the tree had last been inspected in October 2019 and that no works were required following the assessment.
“The cause of the tree failure in this instance was due to the exceptionally high wind
strength of up to 119 kph on the day the incident occurred.
“Council obviously has no control over these kinds of extreme conditions or the inevitable damage caused by them.”
