The wife of a man killed by a falling tree limb in Cheshire has urged Cheshire East to become a 'flagship council' in driving change for safety inspections.

Chris Hall, 48, was killed in August 2020 when he was struck by a falling tree limb in The Carrs Park in Wilmslow.

Cheshire East Council was later fined £500,000 after pleading guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

His widow, Fiona, who attended last week's meeting of the environment and communities committee as councillors discussed the corporate tree risk management strategy (TMRS), told councillors: "Since that day, I have vowed to get a new law implemented called Chris's Law…

"That law is about making it mandatory and making it a legal requirement for councils across the UK to maintain trees in public spaces… because at the moment, there is a duty of care on councils but that's open to interpretation."

Mrs Hall said there had been 'many more deaths' caused by falling trees which had not been publicised.

"My aim is to get a new law passed, and I won't stop till we do," she said.

She said Cheshire East Council has an opportunity now 'to showcase themselves as a flagship council for bringing about change and leading the way for other councils across the UK'.

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Cllr Andrew Kolker (Dane Valley, Con) said the council's updated policy was a good step but 'it's got to be a really thorough process, looking at every tree in some detail'.

Chris Allman, director of planning and environment, said the trees are categorised and if more intrusive surveys are needed, work is prioritised and carried out.

Cllr Hannah Moss (Con) asked if the 2021 TMRS had already been planned or was a result of Mr Hall's death.

Mr Allman said he was not part of the team then but 'the council was deemed to be failing at that point as part of that prosecution'.

Mrs Hall said: "As part of our legal case with Cheshire East Council, as part of reparation, if you like, one of the main criteria for me was that Cheshire East Council would introduce a robust tree strategy plan, because Cheshire East Council never had one before."

And she told councillors: "It can't happen again. There's so much technology out there now that isn't expensive to be able to maintain trees."

Knutsford councillor Tony Dean (Con) said a tree had smashed on to the roof of his house eight years ago and when it was checked by arborists there was nothing wrong with tree.

"It was a windy day. It was in full leaf in summer, but just blew the tree over. And that can happen," he said.

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But he welcomed the new programme introduced by the council to pick up on ageing and diseased trees.

Macclesfield councillor Mary Brooks (Lab) said, with climate change, the risk of trees falling is becoming greater.

She referred to an incident at a Macclesfield club.

"They inspected some of their trees in their car park not so long ago, and they had some work carried out on them, and they were all signed off as being fine," said Cllr Brooks.

She said there was a storm and one tree came down and crashed on to a car and a few hours later the next one came down.

"Even with inspection, these things will occur," she said.

"But hopefully we can mitigate the risk by identifying ones where there's disease, etc, as far as possible."

Councillors who spoke said they backed Chris's Law.

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The committee voted unanimously to approve the strategy.

A link to the petition for Chris's Law is here Petition · Support Chris's Law: • A National Law for Tree Safety in Public Spaces – United Kingdom · Change.org