Unsafe Trees To Be Removed From Railway Street

About four weeks from now, people will notice Council staff working to remove Sugar Gum trees from Railway Street.

The decision to remove the trees was made after an independent arborist provided a report through the Memorial Park Embellishment Committee advising the removal of the unsafe trees.

As a result, Council staff will remove 27 sugar gums that currently pose a risk to the public.

Work to remove the trees is scheduled to begin in about four weeks and will take around three weeks to complete.

The work will be conducted in stages, with barrier mesh and spotters in place to minimise disruption and limit the impact to motorists, pedestrians, and nearby businesses.

Once the trees have been removed, preparations will be made for replanting a suitable variety of trees that will take place in May 2025.

The Sugar Gums were pollarded (upper branches removed) around 30 years ago and they’ve become susceptible to disease and decay over time resulting in structural issues and branches dropping suddenly.

Councillor Jenny Ellis said that the decision to remove the Sugar Gums was to ensure the safety of the community and its property.

“Council hired an independent, expert arborist to inspect the trees in September 2023,” Mrs Ellis said.

“Every tree was discerned to be at Hazard 4 level (high hazard) which is defined as “the tree shows signs of overweight limbs, significant disease, root damage, removal of adjacent supporting tree, significant defects present”.

“The two categories higher are very high and critical.

“This means we had a bit of time to budget for their removal and investigate other options.

“I moved that it be put in the 24/25 budget to remove the trees for the safety of our community and property.

“Recently a large branch fell and just missed a woman getting into her car.”

Mrs Ellis said that the near miss was why it was very important that the trees were removed as soon as possible and replaced with fast-growing trees that would not carry the same issues. “A part of the problem is that a number of years ago the trees were cut off at their main limbs and multiple branches grew up out of the stumps,” she said.

“This then encouraged weaker limbs to grow and disease to get into the trees.

The removed trees will be replaced with semi-advanced species under irrigation.

Of the 27 trees to be removed, 14 are located behind Memorial Park and 13 opposite CWA Park.

• Topics:

• Public Safety
• Local Council