AN “ICONIC” beech tree at Machynlleth’s Plas has been badly damaged by high winds.

The tree, which was being assessed by experts appointed by Machynlleth Town Council after it emerged it was suffering with rot and a fungal infection, was hit by a gust of wind on Thursday, 14 June, leading to half of the tree collapsing.

That has left the town council having to seek expert advice on how to deal with the remaining half of the tree, which has been cordoned off.

A statement from the town council, which had previously come under fire for the removal of some trees on the Plas grounds, said: “The staff and members of the council were shocked and saddened at the recent collapse of half of the iconic beech tree that stands outside the Plas in Machynlleth.

“Having taken professional advice from a number of fully qualified people on the matter it seems that the tree was ‘over mature’ and moving into its ‘veteran phase’ and had a number of defects which the council was in the process of addressing.

“The council accepts that such trees are nationally rare in the UK and form an important part of our national heritage, and to this end plans were in motion to conserve the tree, manage the risk to the public and manage the tree as it lost its physical integrity.

“This tree had been identified in a recent full professional survey as having extensive Ganoderma austral fungus infection and was due to shortly have a sonic tomography test to visualise the extent of internal rot before any remedial work was carried out.”

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