Specialists inspect poplars in Welwyn Garden City

SPECIALIST consultants have been hired to probe WGC s trees for decay, following an incident in which a car was crushed by a falling poplar. Welwyn Hatfield Council has spent �4,000 hiring Harraway Tree Services to inspect

SPECIALIST consultants have been hired to probe WGC's trees for decay, following an incident in which a car was crushed by a falling poplar.

Welwyn Hatfield Council has spent �4,000 hiring Harraway Tree Services to inspect 73 Lombardy poplars in Parkway, Howardsgate and Parkway Close.

This week, the firm used state-of-the-art sonic tomography equipment to examine the trees for internal decay - kit to which the council's own tree officers do not have access.

Harraway, which is based in West Sussex, was commissioned after these officers had carried out their own inspection of 152 poplars in the same area.

For more on this story, see this week's Welwyn & Hatfield Times, out now