The corner of Lakeside Motel was destroyed and cars damaged by a fallen poplar in 2014.

Queenstown's famed poplar trees have crushed cars, damaged a motel and killed a man, but the council still won't test the internal rot of the tree trunks.

A High Court judgement earlier this year found the Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) liable for $64,000 worth of damage to Lakeside Motel after a rotten 120-year-old, 30m tall poplar snapped in high winds and crashed onto the motel in 2014.

Passers-by were forced to run in fear when the poplar fell. It was one of 23 in St Omer Park reserve alongside Lake Wakatipu in central Queenstown.

In her judgement Justice Helen Cull said the council knew the aged Lombardy poplar trees were a risk but failed to undertake internal testing to identify the extent of decay and did not undertake a phased felling programme as recommended.

READ MORE:

* Widow raps council as another poplar falls

* Lakeside poplars to be examined

* Nature takes crane down in tree-felling

* Tree fall investigated

She also noted the council did not undertake internal testing when it knew the testing would identify the extent of internal decay in the tree.

"Overall, the Council failed to take a risk assessment approach to managing its hazardous trees," Cull said.

She noted that prior to 2014 three trees near Queenstown had fallen, causing extensive damage, and a fatality in September 2009. Farmer Russell Liggett died when a rotting poplar on Speargrass Flat Rd fell in high winds and crushed his car.

Council representatives told Stuff in an email they were unable to explain why it did not undertake testing and felling as recommended in 2007.

"This is because the staff involved at the time referred to are no longer in the council's employment and information about considerations undertaken at the time cannot be retrieved."

Lin Ferguson A poplar tree demolishes a car on Lake Esplanade in Queenstown after falling in 2004.

They also confirmed internal decay testing equipment would not be used during annual "visual" inspections of the 20 or so poplar trees remaining in St Omer Park. The equipment would be used "should any tree raise concern".

The trees at Speargrass Flat Rd were in private ownership and not the council's responsibility, the email said.

"Regardless, QLDC have had these private trees assessed and inspected and should any tree be found to be potentially hazardous, the tree owner will be made aware in order that suitable remedial works may be undertaken."

The council's arboricultural contractor Recreational Services also monitored poplar trees in Wanaka, Lake Hayes and Kingston, on behalf of council.

Websites suggest Lombardy poplar trees live between 10 and 50 years. They become weak after rotting from the inside.

Many of the trees around Queenstown were planted more than 100 years ago but are valued for their "aesthetic and architectural significance" according to a report by arborist David Finlin.

The Lake Esplanade trees feature regularly in photographs of central Queenstown while those lining Speargrass Flat Rd are well known to film makers who have employed the dappled light of the poplars in more than 30 television commercials.

Despite their popularity, they have caused many problems in recent years.

In 1997 strong wind gusts bring down a large Lombardy poplar in St Omer Park, which knocked down two more poplars. Council removed seven trees.

DEBBIE JAMIESON/STUFF About 20 Lombardy Poplar trees remain in St Omer Park, Queenstown.

In 2004 a 30m poplar fell on Lake Esplanade, destroying an unoccupied parked car. A year later the council removed eight trees from Lake Esplanade after investigations showed internal rot but did not implement the recommended phased felling programme.

Two years before the death of Russell Liggett in December 2007, the council had agreed to chop down 18 of the 40m Lombardy poplar trees on Speargrass Flat Rd because of internal rot but following a further report decided to monitor the trees only.

The trees identified did not cause the death of Liggett but after his death the council was advised to remove 66 rotting poplar trees along the same stretch of road. It rejected the proposal and instead resolved to have trees tested by resistograph for internal decay.

After another of the Speargrass Flat poplars fell in 2009, a new report went to council saying that 69 of 75 trees were unsafe.

At the same time it was recommended all trees in St Omer Park be felled but another report a few months later recommended only one be removed. The judge noted it had not been done by January 2014.

DEBBIE JAMIESON/STUFF The poplar trees on Speargrass Flat Rd, near Queenstown, are popular with filmmakers.

POPLAR DAMAGE:

- November 2011 a crane driver was injured when a large poplar tree fell and toppled the 55-tonne machine he was driving during a felling operation at Speargrass Flat Rd.

- In January 2014, after the 25m poplar fell in St Omer Park hitting cars and a motel, the council removed four poplars.

- In July last year two mature lombardy poplars blew down in Roys Bay, Wanaka.