Tree cull denial a tad nutty
THE Whitsunday council has reached a new level of nuttiness by trying to deny it ever had a plan to rid the region of most of its coconut palms.
In a statement this week, Whitsunday Regional Council claimed it was never the objective of its Draft Coconut Management Policy to cut down the coconut trees “and it is not stated in the draft policy”.
The draft policy, released in May, clearly states the council would remove all of its 970 coconut palms which were in “high- use” or “moderately high- use” parks and near town entry signs.
Bowen Tourism chairman Paul McLaughlin said the council should accept it made a mistake.
“There’s no doubt that if the draft policy was followed it would have removed the vast majority of coconut trees in the area,” he said.
“All other coconuts would be removed except class one
Aanda two parks. Council are now saying they are going to back away from that but I don’t understand why they are saying it was never their intention b because that’s what’s written in the draft policy.
“We’ve had a number of meetings with the council and we’ve submitted our changes and the council indicated it is very willing to change their policy.
“For example, they have committed to not touching coconut trees on the Bowen foreshore. But at the end of the day it will depend on what the mayor and councillors vote on.”
Whitsunday Mayor Jenny Whitney said the issue had been “blown up by the media”.
“I think everyone has missed the point. That was a draft put out by an officer of council and it went out to public consultation,” she said.
“There has never been a discussion around council removing or cutting down any coconut trees.”
The council will hold four public meetings to consult residents on the draft plan in coming weeks, with the consultation period ending on July 24.
According to a council media release this week, there was never a proposal to cut down any coconut trees.
“Council does not want to cut down the coconut trees, and that was never the objective of the policy and is not stated in the draft policy,” the statement said.