Councillor Ross Grove

The controversial tree debate will make a return to the chambers at Holroyd City Council tonight as Liberal Councillor Ross Grove begins the process of reforming council’s Tree Preservation Orders which are some of the most rigid and extreme in New South Wales.

The debate returns from earlier in the year when the council spent six hours spanning eight weeks debating multiple rescission motions over a tree removal application in Westmead.

Clr Grove’s motions propose to add an extra five species to the list of exempt trees not requiring council approval to be removed.

“Since my election to council I have argued that council has too much red tape and regulation. When it comes to trees we have some of the most burdensome restrictions in the state, particularly when you compare them with green-oriented council’s such as the Blue Mountains, Ku-Ring-Gai, and Leichhardt.

“By making more trees exempt from the approval process we can help the environment by making it easier to remove hazardous species, streamline our bureaucracy, and wind back some of the financial burdens placed on both Council and the applicant.

Clr Grove is porposing to add the following trees to the list exempt trees tonight: False Acacia (Robinia pseudoacacia), Liquidambar (Liquidamber styraciflua), Camphor Laurel (Cinnamomum camphora), Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima), and the Cootamundra Wattle (Acacia baileyana).

“The False Acacia is precisely that. It’s a false acacia, a foreign plant which elbows out native species and is highly prone to diseases which have the potential to harm the vegetation and plantlife around it.

“The Liquidambar is also a foreign species which I want to see on the exempt list because it is well documented that it’s root system causes thousands of dollars in damage to nearby homes. Council has previously rejected applications to remove Liquidambar trees only to approve them months later – when the damage is aready done.

“The Camphor Laurel was introduced to Australia in 1822 as an ornamental tree for use in gardens, however its toxic seeds are addictive to our native birds and the camphor content in the tree’s leaf litter makes the area beneath the tree’s spread more conductive to other toxic species.

“The Tree of Heaven is a Tiawanese plant and should go on the list because of the threat it poses to native woodlands. It is currently exempted by the Blue Mountains, Parramatta, Warringah, Randwick, Sydney, Hawkesbury and no doubt other LGAs.

“The Cootamundra Wattle poses a very real threat to the more localised Acacia pubescens, a native wattle to the Sydney Basin. It has a high propensity to hybridise and has spread throughout Australia and other Southern American countries.

“This is just a small step in my fight to reform Council’s rigid and counterproductive tree regulations. I’ll keep working to give my residents the options they need to take back control of what does and doesn’t grow on their property.”

MEDIA CONTACT: Ross Grove on 0412897130