Residents feel exposed after screening shrubs removed from Northern Distributor

The residents from the Pine Ridge Drive area including Joe Maric, Kevin Smith and Jim New were concerned about silt, erosion, visual impact as well as the effect on wildlife.

Mr New has lived in the area since the road was proposed and said the plants were part of the condition to build the bypass, and he was not informed of the council's plans.

"The erosion is going to be really bad if they don't re-shrub it," Mr New said.

"There was a lot of dead stuff in there that they could have got rid of three years ago, a lot of blackberry bushes, they didn't maintain it.

"They could have got rid of the stuff that passed its use-by date and replanted instead of ripping everything out."

Mr Maric said high beams from trucks travelling around a roundabout on the Northern Distributor Road were now shining into some of his neighbours' homes at night since the plants were removed.

"We have a lot of noise from the trucks and cars passing through," Mr Maric said.

"In my case it's also my deck, I cannot sit on my deck at nighttime because it's blinding, I cannot blame the truck drivers."

Mr Maric said there was also a risk of sediment and debris washing into a channel at the base of the embankment.

"At the bottom of that clump of dirt we have a channel that feeds into the Ploughman's Creek water harvesting scheme, the risk is that's going to be clogged up with sediment," he said.

Orange City Council spokesperson Nick Redmond said the plants were removed because they were reaching the end of their natural life.

Mr Redmond said many of the native shrubs that screened the Northern Distributor Road from houses were planted when the bypass was built.

"In particular the Rosemary Grevillea bushes are worse for wear," Mr Redmond said.

"Many of the shrubs on the banks of the bypass have died or are affected by disease, with the prolonged dry conditions also affecting their health.

"Council staff have started clearing the dead and diseased shrubs in the section of the bypass between Escort Way and the Mitchell Highway."

Mr Redmond said council staff were also trialling equipment which removes the dead shrubs, and turns the branches into a mulch layer to reduce erosion.

"This approach also ensures organics are recycled into the soil as the chopped up leaves and branches will break down over time," he said.

Mr Redmond said the plan was to gradually work around the entire bypass and once drought conditions improve, the council intends to plant new longer-living native species.

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