Monique Delfs said she was shocked when she returned home last week to see the plum tree had been cut down.

“I asked council to trim it back, I did not want the whole thing cut down,” she said.

Ms Delfs had contacted council and requested they trim back some branches that were dropping a lot of fruit and posed a potential hazard for people walking on the footpath.

Ms Delfs said after she contacted Parks and Gardens twice and received no reply, she went into council and spoke with recreation manager Peter Navin.

“I said that I just needed a couple of the upper limbs trimmed off and he said they would send someone out on Tuesday,” she said.

“I didn’t see anyone turn up on Tuesday ... Then I went out for an hour appointment on Wednesday and when I got back home it was completely gone.

“I was in shock. I actually cried.”

Ms Delfs said her daughter Annaliese, who used to climb the tree, was also upset.

“The streetscape has completely changed now. Out the front of our home is bare and horrible,” she said.

“We have less privacy and less shade for my car. One less tree also means less oxygen. We should not be cutting them down, but planting more.”

Ms Delfs said she would write to council to express her disappointment and was contemplating taking the issue to the Land and Environment Court.

Mr Navin said council tended to remove plum trees when the opportunity arose.

“We get complaints about plum trees quite a bit – they can be a safety issue, as when the fruit drops it puts lots of juice on the footpath,” he said.

“A problem with them dropping their fruit is also that the birds feed on them and pass on the seeds somewhere else.”

More importantly, though, Mr Navin said the Department of Agriculture advised councils to remove plum trees to keep fruit flies at bay.

Mr Navin said workers were advised to cut the tree down if it was dropping as much fruit as Ms Delfs had suggested.

Mr Navin said street trees belonged to council and council did not need to inform Ms Delfs before cutting the plum tree down.

“If we went knocking on everyone’s door before we do a job we’d never get around all of the town.”

Mr Navin said a new tree would be planted outside Ms Delfs’ home in the coming months.

“If we take it [a tree] out, we always replace it,” he said. “But we can’t take the stump out until the contractor comes around and we won’t plant a new tree until it cools down. We usually plant around winter.”