Orange Mayor Reg Kidd said the trees were predominately radiata pines.

"I'm delighted the Heritage Council have weighed up the potential heritage impact of removing this first round of trees against the benefits of a new sports precinct, and have decided to give the new proposal their support," he said.

"They've had a very close look at the new landscape master plan for the sports precinct and they've seen how many more trees are going to be planted for this new project. Eventually there'll be more trees than there are now."

Cr Kidd said an artist's impressions of the site showed there would ultimately be many trees in the area.

"The proposed new grandstand will actually be built below the level of Forest Road so all but the bulk of it will be out of sight," he said.

However, the start of work on the first round of tree removals for the proposed sports precinct is set to be delayed by recent heavy rains and Sydney's COVID lockdown.

"Now we have the approval, the people of Orange are keen for work to start as soon as possible, but the reality is we're dealing with the COVID restrictions, not to mention the impact of weeks of wet weather," he said.

"The specialist contractors will be using some heavy machinery that's used in forestry operations. It removes the trunk and then takes out the roots. But because the ground is so sodden, there's the prospect of equipment being bogged or not being able to move across the site efficiently.

"The contractor will be looking at their timetable for other jobs, COVID arrangements and the weather forecast to work out when they can make a start. It's expected to be at least a couple of weeks before the ground dries out enough to hold heavy machinery."

A report prepared for this week's council meeting laid out a prospective timetable for the entire sports precinct project.

It says earthworks could start in late November once all the necessary approvals were obtained and when tenders could be called to draft detailed design plans.

"The future stages of the project consist of the removal of the remainder of vegetation, conduct of civil works for the project site, construction of multipurpose fields, construction of main sports stadium and construction of the athletics stadium, construction of car parks and amenities and landscaping."

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