Significant trees face chop
A request to remove a dozen significant trees from the former South Canterbury RSA (SCRSA) site on Wai-iti Rd has been granted by the Timaru District Council.
Most of the trees, with plantings dating back at least 64 years, are on the council’s significant trees register and will be removed to make way for an 11-section subdivision by landowner Yedo Investments, which is owned by former Timaru District mayor Damon Odey and father Robert Odey.
An application to remove the trees was filed on January 27 and granted on March 5. A resource consent application for the subdivision was filed on April 9 for sections ranging from 419 square metres to 524sqm, on the 6600sqm site.
A letter in the application document to Damon Odey from the SCRSA on November 25, 2020, says the ‘‘executive committee has no objection to the removal of the trees along Wai-iti Rd.’’
‘‘At the end of the day it is not our decision, the land is yours [Yedo Investments], so we no longer have any say in what happens,’’ the letter from SCRSA president Grant Finlayson says.
The SCRSA has accepted a $5000 offer from the Odeys to replace the trees and plaques, hopefully near the Timaru Town & Country Club where the RSA is now based.
‘‘It is intended that a single plaque bearing the names of the dignitaries that planted the original trees will be procured.’’
They include former governorsgeneral Viscount Cobham, in 1958, Sir Bernard Fergusson, in 1964, Sir Denis Blundell, in 1977, and Sir David Beattie, in 1981.
‘‘New trees will be purchased to complement the field artillery gun enclosure when it is built in the not too distant future,’’ the letter says.
The applicants supplied an arboriculture report on the trees which the council’s horticulture officer, Jan Morrison, ‘‘generally agrees with’’, the council’s decision said.
The report recommended the removal of a kowhai, kahikatea, English oak, lancewood, red beech, and lace bark which had either decay, or low vigour, but said a rewarewa and kawakawa had normal vigour. The kawakawa could be relocated.
Other trees that could be retained included three pin oaks along the property’s frontage and a Japanese maple.
When looking at the cultural/heritage values, the council’s decision said the scheduled trees appear to have particular values associated with their recognition of specific persons associated with war service to New Zealand.
‘‘They have also provided a setting for commemoration of this service and for the service of many people associated with overseas conflicts.
‘‘The relocation of the SCRSA from the site has substantially removed the potential for the trees to be a source and place of remembrance, both by RSA members and the general public.
‘‘The change in circumstances indicates that the trees now have limited cultural/heritage value and consequently the removal of the trees will have a limited impact on those values.’’
In granting the application for removal, the council’s team leader consents and compliance, Nathan Hole, added the trees were also ‘‘generally in poor health’’.
The Odeys bought the site in 2019 via a tender process and rented the building back to the SCRSA at the peppercorn rate of 10 cents a month until the doors were closed for the last time in January 2020. The former SCRSA building was demolished in late November 2020.