Tree dilemma for church board

The old pohutukawa tree outside Bishopcourt. Photo / Paul Estcourt

The graceful outstretched limbs of one of Parnell's most admired pohutukawa trees are said to be likely to crash on to the older Selwyn Court and Library, which have the country's highest heritage protection status.

After a century on its St Stephens Ave site, three of the tree's four main limbs are growing towards the ground and buildings, stretching a web of bracing cables to breaking point.

"We are in a pickle over this because the tree is old, nice and hangs out over two heritage buildings and arborists have told us the risk of limbs falling is high," said Anglican General Trust Board chairman Murray Weatherston.

It is also on the Auckland Council's schedule of protected trees and is healthy and behaving like a normal mature pohutukawa.

This has obliged the board to apply for resource consent to remove it.

"We are not a developer trying to cut it down so we can build 20 townhouses on it.

"The tree has got too big and is too dangerous and we want to take it out and replace it with another specimen tree," said Mr Weatherston.

"If we don't get permission and the tree falls down, who is to indemnify us if it falls on a person or crushes and destroys the Selwyn Library?

"We'd love to keep both the tree and building safe but everything we have been advised tells us we can't."

For a decade, The Specimen Tree Company has tried to ease the strain of the wind on two downwards-growing limbs by pruning and fitting bracing straps that can take heavy loads.

However, because the weight of the load is increasing, the company now gives the tree a hazard rating of 11 out of 12.

It recommends an engineered prop system - costing at least $250,000 - as a long-term solution.

But Mr Weatherston said the system was not feasible because of the cost and the props restricting access to the library.

Selwyn Court and Library were part of Bishop George Augustus Selwyn's 1860s complex, which is registered as a Category 1 heritage building by the Historic Places Trust.

However, a trust heritage adviser says: "The tree's removal would be a drastic response."

The tree was the subject of a 1983 study by photographer John Fields; he, with architect and historian John Stacpoole, gave that to Auckland Art Gallery.

Mr Stacpoole said yesterday the building was more important than the tree, which he believed was planted early last century. "It will be a loss because it's a significant tree and very characteristic of Auckland."

The Tree Council is preparing a report on the removal application and Auckland Council's closing date for public submissions is February 3.