Trees tie up council for hour

A STOUSH over whether six trees on private property were significant tied up Hobart City Council debate for an hour on Monday night.

Onlookers were stumped as elected members went back and forth on whether listing the trees on the council’s significant tree register would be too much of an intrusion on an individual’s property rights.

The council was voting on whether to initiate the induction of 741 prime specimens on to the register, the majority of which are located in Soldiers Memorial Ave at Queens Domain.

Six nominations on private land were opposed by the owner or occupier, but were still recommended for inclusion until council’s planning committee voted to remove them last week.

But Cr Bill Harvey moved an amendment on Monday night to try to get them back on the list.

Cr Harvey said the proposed additions still had to go out for public consultation and those six trees were not being given a chance.

Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds said there were still many protections for landowners under the process.

“The reason these six trees have got through this process with our arborists is because they do make an impact,” she said.

But Alderman Simon Behrakis argued that the whole idea was an overreach of council power.

“We’re talking about six trees that are on private property that owners are now being told they’re not allowed to touch and have to pay maintenance for if they damage property,” he said.

“How much right do we have to tell people what they can and can’t do on their private property after they’ve already taken ownership.”

Ald Tanya Denison said in the future the council needed to do more to protect owners from the financial implications of listing trees on private properties.

The vote on Cr Harvey’s amendment was tied six-all, meaning it was lost and the six trees stayed off the register.

The six specimens that caused such an uproar were:

A Velvet Ash at 290 Elizabeth St; An English Oak at 454 Elizabeth St; Bunya-Bunya and Norfolk Island pines at 262 Macquarie St; Blue Gums at 3C Montagu St and 31 Toorak Ave; A Blue Gum at 894 Sandy Bay Rd and a White Gum at 66 Summerhill Rd.