Clearview residents call for gum trees to be removed amid fears falling branches could kill or injure

River red gums hitting nearly 25m in height are dropping branches, with locals desperate for their council to act before tragedy strikes.

Falling branches from two large river red gums in Adelaide’s north are causing safety concerns for nearby residents, who fear someone could be killed by dropping tree limbs.

Clearview residents say there have been near misses in the past and are calling for the two gum trees – located on at Melrose Ave and estimated to stand around 24m tall – to be removed.

Vikash Patel under the river red gums residents say will one day kill someone with council action. Picture: Keryn Stevens

A large tree branch dropped by one of the gum trees in January of 2023. Picture: supplied.

Anne-Marie Nickless was walking back inside her home in January when a branch fell and hit the spot she had just left.

“I had literally walked inside and heard it crack … looked outside and heard the branch fall,” she said.

“When the branches fall, they are that big it will … either put you in a wheelchair or kill you. That’s the fear we are living in.

“We do have a lot of schoolchildren come by, elderly come past. It’s a safety issue now.”

She fears her 84-year-old mother, who enjoys working on the garden, could be hurt the next time one of the limbs comes down.

Her neighbour Vikash Patel has two sons aged 8 and 14 and he worried for their safety.

“Sometimes it’s so dangerous … it’s dropping any time,” he said.

Vikash Patel and other residents fear the trees will kill or injure someone. Picture: Keryn Stevens

Mr Patel said over the years, branches had fallen on to his property, the road and nearby power lines, causing an electricity outage.

He said a few years ago a falling limb damaged his fence, leaving him with a $400 bill.

Over the past two years, residents have reported four or five fallen branches to council because they were too big to move.

Ms Nickless said most of the times residents had to break up and clear away fallen branches on their own.

She said the situation had become worse in recent years with corellas nesting in the trees and “chipping away on the branches up top”.

Ms Nickless and Mr Patel will present a deputation to Port Adelaide Enfield Council on Tuesday.

According to her presentation, council’s maintenance work in the past was a “token effort”.

Council was unable to comment on the situation but elected members on Tuesday will vote on whether administration should bring back a report with an arborist report, cost and process associated with the removal of verge trees.

Originally published as Clearview residents call for gum trees to be removed amid fears falling branches could kill or injure