Plane ‘outrage’

Council last week announced its intentions to remove two large Plane trees at the intersection of Wellington and End Sts.

They will be replaced by new trees, which council has said would be mature but will take some time to offer the same shade as the trees being removed.

The decision to remove the trees followed what council said was a thorough investigation by an independent arborist, who recommended the removal of the trees due to concerns over their size and impact on nearby buildings.

But council has confirmed the report was conducted in 2016.

Concerned community members questioned the time between the report and the decision, both through official letters to the editor in Friday’s edition and on the Pastoral Times social media pages.

Council revealed it had approached another arborist for advice after being asked by the Pastoral Times if there was still time to consider other options relating to the trees.

“Given the time that has elapsed since the arborist inspection, another independent, qualified arborist has been engaged to undertake a current risk assessment of the trees and provide a recommendation,” the council said.

A footpath and paving around the trees had to be replaced in 2016, which is believed to have been caused by the trees’ roots.

The Pastoral Times also believes nearby buildings have suffered infrastructure damage as a result of the roots.

“The arborist was asked to carry out a risk assessment of the two trees and identify any potential issues or risks associated with the trees at this location,” council clarified.

“The inspection and investigation were carried out in late 2016 and early 2017 by Arboricultural Consultants Australia Pty Ltd.

“The arborist recommendation was that the trees be removed and replaced with trees of another species with roots less likely to be quite so damaging.”

In last week’s announcement, council interim CEO Gary Arnold said while it was acknowledged the trees provided important shade and contribute positively to the streetscape, it would be “negligent” for council to not act.

“Ignoring the findings could result in potential harm to residents or damage to nearby properties,” he said.

End St residents Josephine Duffy and Paul Links are among those questioning council’s decision.

They believe the ERC reasoning is unsubstantiated, based on an eight year-old arborist report which she says, “fails to identify any ‘risk’ warranting the tree removal under the NSW Office of Environment (OEH) and Heritage Tree Protection Act”.

The pair sought advice from Arborviews arborist Ian McKenzie, with some of their communications provided to the Pastoral Times, who reported Plane trees are popular street trees around the world because they don’t normally have intrusive root systems.

“In my expert opinion, I would not classify the root systems of Plane trees as ‘vigorous and invasive’ and I do not agree that ‘there is a great potential for future property and infrastructure damage’,” Mr McKenzie wrote to the pair.

Mr McKenzie told them he would recommend council commission a “new arboricultural report that properly addresses all relevant issues and, if relevant, an engineer’s report”.

When council’s plans were shared on the Pastoral Times Facebook page last week, a number of other community members expressed their concerns about the removal of the trees.

More than one described the decision as an “outrage”, and most highlighted environmental concerns and said they would like to see more details supporting the decision.

If the new arborist report also recommends removal, council will work with its Open Space Team and nearby property owners regarding appropriate replacement trees.