Oxford's first comprehensive policy for dealing with the maintenance of tens of thousands of trees has been approved.

The document - the first of its kind for the city - sets out under what circumstances tree felling work will take place, who will make decisions to chop trees down and who will be notified.

The policy covers the 102,000 trees the city council is responsible for and comes after several recent high-profile debacles.

It comes six years after the death of 22-year-old Angela Regoczy, of Blandford Avenue, Wolvercote, who was crushed by a horse chestnut tree in Gloucester Street in 2002.

An inquest into student Ms Regoczy's death heard the city council identified the tree as diseased in 1999. It should have been felled within two years.

Tonight, Angela's parents Victor and Denise welcomed the decision to draw up a comprehensive policy.

Victor Regoczy, 60, said: "This is long overdue and we are happy it is being put in place, but we lost our daughter because a tree that should have been felled wasn't - and we will never get over that loss. This is not about anger. It is about expecting people in charge to be competent and they were not.

"They forgot about the tree because there was nothing in place to remind people. Hopefully that will not happen again."

The Health and Safety Executive - which is responsible for enforcing health and safety legislation in the UK - re-examined the case.

But earlier this month, it announced it would not be taking action against the council.

A tree database is being drawn up and the authority is operating a rolling maintenance programme.

According to the document: "If a tree is highlighted to be dead, dying, diseased or dangerous and is posing an unacceptable risk to public safety, it will be identified for felling."

Felling will only be carried out as a last resort. And if a tree is identified for felling, the public will be informed through councillors and public notices - but they will not be consulted for approval.

The document also sets out the council's aim to replace every felled tree with a new one.

In November, 2006, residents of Osney Island were angered when the council cut down 11 willow trees. City councillor Susanna Pressel, who represents Jericho and Osney, said: "This tree policy is long overdue and the council has been forced to produce it because of the shocking incident involving the Osney willows."