In January 2024, a Wirral resident (for our non-UK readers, The Wirral is the peninsular between the River Mersey (and the City of Liverpool ) and the River Dee (and North Wales)  had an agreement with a neighbour, Aaron Borbora,  to cut down a  90ft poplar tree which was clearly dying. The tree was positioned on the corner of Mr Borbora’s boundary, so at the time it was reasonable to assume that it belonged to Mr Borbora . The resident, as the tree would fall on his house, said he’d pay. The condition  of the tree was supported with a tree report. A second tree report 6 months (August 2024)  later was to show the tree was in a more dangerous condition than originally thought -it was completely hollow and couldn’t support its own weight, particularly when it was bending in light, let alone heavy winds – 90ft high and weighing multiple tons. 

 Once the work to make it safe was underway i.e cut it down, other neighbours called out the local Conservative Councillor, Andrew Hodson who asked the work to stop while he checked with council personnel to a ascertain ownership and it’s state. We add the word “ownership”, as a lady named Lorraine Rogers, who lives in a house 150 feet away claimed she owned it. It turned out she didn’t, not surprisingly.

 Cllr Hodson , later that day   called the resident and told him the tree was owned by Mr Borbora. Mr Borbora also accepted ownership (via WhatsApp so its evidenced) but now stated he wasn’t going to make it safe as sentiment for the tree to stay  from other neighbours was so high. The tree report at the time said it was dangerous and could fall any minute and the tree surgeon on the advice of his solicitor told him to pass back any liability and responsibility for the tree to the owner and those making the decision not to make it safe. Both Cllr Hodson and Mr Borbora were both sent the report via WhatsApp, so this is evidenced. Cllr Hodson  replied saying he would pass it on to the owner in a Whatsapp message, again evidencing and supporting his verbal statement of ownership. No further action was made on the tree to make it safe   at that time in early Feb 2024. The neighbour did nothing and in doing so endangered life. 

 A second  tree survey  / report on the tree in August 2024,  6 months later, detailed that the tree was decayed, the hollow trunk filled with water and decayed it even further every time it rained. So it was in a much  worse state than originally thought – the tree was 90ft high – extremely dangerous, and overlooks the Dee estuary where high winds are common, so the resident contacted the council to force them to have the owner to have it cut down.

 The ‘tree people’ at the council then confirmed by email (so again evidenced) to the resident that it was on “unregistered land” at the corner of Mr Borbora’s property meaning that no one owned the land the tree was on and therefore no one owned the tree and that the council had responsibility to cut it down and make it safe. So why did Cllr Hodson  lie about the onwnership of the tree to keep a 90ft high lethal and potentially fatally dangerous tree in place , when he,  as a representative of the council,  has a responsibility to cut it down. In taking the action he did – lying about ownership and not acting to make it safe  , he endangered lives and likely committed misconduct in a public office.   The Council’s “tree people” also accused the resident of having started to have the tree cut down and then stopping it, so had clearly been told lies about this . Who could possibly have told them those lies?. So the resident emailed a response to the “tree people” as what had actually happened and also included the evidence of WhatsApp messages where the “owner” stated he was going to do anything about the tree, and the WhatsApp message from Cllr Hodson about passing the tree report onto the owner.  The “tree people” accepted the resident’s explanation.

 It’s apparent also from the Whatsapp messages between Mr Borbora and the resident he and the councillor conspired together to say that Mr Borbora owned the tree, so both share in the responsibility to leave the tree in situ, endangering life in doing so. The tree , for a further 6 / 7 months, until it was finally made safe, could have fallen and killed someone or multiple people at any time.  The lane on which the tree grows is a thoroughfare from the top parts of Heswall to the Wirral Way and some days hundreds of people, families, walkers, horse – riders and dog walkers,  and others use the lane. 

Why did Cllr Hodson lie to keep a dangerous 90ft high, heavy potentially fatal tree in site. The resident is a mixed race family in an area known as “White Wirral”. Would he have left the tree like that if a white family’s property with just white people in it was in its way when it fell? You decide.

Its important to note that this is not reflective of Wirral Council per se nor its majority of the hard working councillors, its officers and staff, but a small cabal of individuals, lets hope that justice will now take its course.   Having said that, this is Wirral Council, a UK Municipality that has just received a £28M (c$35M)  Central Government bailout in Q1 2025 and is looking to make taxpayer funded redundancies.