Council backs off on street tree planting

Central Coast Council staff appear to have relented in their opposition to street tree planting on the Peninsula.

They have now issued guidelines for planting trees in nature strips.

Previously, Council staff had stood in the way of efforts by the Grow Urban Shade Trees group in Umina to encourage street tree planting, claiming the street trees were a threat to underground infrastructure.

According to a social media post by the group, the Council has issued the following guidelines.

Trees should be planted three metres from the property boundary, three metres from a power pole and three metres from the approach side of a driveway.

They should be planted at least 12 metres from a major intersection.

Trees under power lines should grow to no more than five metres.

Branches should not interfere with water hydrants.

The change in council attitude comes after years of campaigning by the Grow Urban Shade Trees group, and studies which showed the Peninsula to be the hottest area on the Coast, suffering from "urban heat island effect".

The group has also welcomed a new page on the Council website "giving advice about trees and how, where and when residents and developers need to get approval for tree pruning or removal".

"Previously the Council website was fairly devoid of concrete advice about trees unless you are one of those people who is great at wading through long policy documents."

The group noted that there was "still no action on Significant Trees".

The Council website states: "Council is currently developing a process and criteria for nominating and assessing trees considered to be Significant. Information will be provided on Councils website once this is complete."

The advice about pruning and removal can be found at https://www.centralcoast.nsw.gov.au/ residents/ property/ trees-and-vegetation. SOURCE: Social media, 11 Nov 2020 Grow Urban Shade Trees