Taylor asks for review on tree removal practices

Councillor Glenn Taylor said a resident who approached him about a dead tree outside her home, which Orange City Council crews only recently addressed.

“I battled for 18 months and after two years, they finally get it down, but I’m amazed at the complaints from a number of people over what are seemingly healthy trees which have suffered some storm damage, beautiful trees, and they’ve come down,” he said.

“There have been genuine safety risks, yet they’ve said, ‘no we can’t touch it’. 

“They seem to be knocking trees down like there’s no tomorrow – I don’t understand.”

Cr Taylor mentioned three trees – one each on Clinton Street, Heath Place and Boronia Crescent, which had been completely removed after storms, and said he would raise the matter at Tuesday’s council meeting.

“It’s outrageous – we really need to have a close look our systems on trees,” he said. 

“They’re beautiful trees and they’re not hurting anyone – if the limbs are damaged, we should be taking the limbs off, but I think we’re getting a bit trigger happy.”

J&C’s Hair Studio owner Jody Thornberry said she was devastated to find a liquid amber removed from the Clinton Street property after she returned from a trip overseas last month.

She said an upper branch had fallen in a storm, but it appeared otherwise in good condition. 

Ms Thornberry has operated the business for 15 years and also lives in the unit upstairs.

“I used to love looking out the window and seeing the green, but I came back to nothing at all,” she said. 

“It used to give us a lovely bit of shade and my clients used to park underneath it.”

Ms Thornberry said she would have protested had she been home at the time.

“I didn’t know how passionate I was about a tree until it was gone,” she said.

“It’s just bare.”

She said even if the tree was replaced, it would take 10 years or more to mature and provide shade. 

Cr Taylor said he would also like to see more regular removal of tree suckers, which are extra shoots from the base of a tree – they develop when the tree is under stress and take energy away from the rest of the specimen.

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