Kevin Knight

I am writing to find out why we have an out-of-town arborist company doing a Whakatāne District Council tree at the entrance to Warren Park, opposite Z.

The company is Arbor Man from Rotorua, which had an arborist and two groundsman working for two days.

I know for a fact that we have notable local arborist companies that need all the work they can get.

■ Whakatāne District Council manager open spaces Ian Molony responds:

Thank you for your letter.

This tree work was undertaken by Whakatāne District Council’s own arborists.

An external company was also present onsite and was used solely for chipping services, as the council does not own a chipper suitable for this work.

Their involvement was limited to supporting the council arborist team using equipment that was already in the district at the time.

They were onsite from one afternoon through to the following morning, rather than for two full days.