ICONIC poplar trees have been cut down to stumps on Gormans Hill Road.
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Bathurst Regional Council had 19 poplars slated for removal after plans to do so were approved in August, 2017.
MacKillop College had previously raised concern about the safety of the trees, their general health and the damage that the root systems are causing to the kerb and guttering, drainage, road surface, sewer systems and general building cracking.
After a qualified arborist confirmed it would be “impossible or impractical to control the root system”, council saw no other option but to remove them.
Last week, Gormans Hill resident Michelle Horwood started a petition in a last-ditch effort to save the trees, however it proved unsuccessful.
By midday Monday, around half of the 19 trees had been cut down.
Councillor John Fry, who was elected to council the month after the tree removal was approved, said he was disappointed these trees were cut down.
He said council should have engaged an independent arborist for a second opinion, as he couldn't see genuine reasons to remove the mature trees.
“I think the reasons weren’t safety-related, they were footpaths and guttering cracking,” he said.
“In the future, we need a second opinion from an arborist and we need a public education program that teaches them that trees might be inconvenient, but they cool down the environment.”
Cr Fry said one tree does the work of “about 10 air conditioners”, so removing 19 trees has effectively taken 190 air conditioners out of the environment.
Prior to the removal of the trees, council did say that replacement trees would be planted back along the verge, utilising appropriate tree species suited to the area.
In addition to educating people about trees, Cr Fry said that council needed to improve its communication with residents in the future to ensure situations like this don’t occur.
He suggested that council put notices on trees due for removal weeks in advance so residents have time to have their say, or that council hold community meetings.
He said that in the case of the Gormans Hill Road poplars, the petition came too late to make a difference.
Regardless, anyone who signed it would now be disappointed in council – a number Cr Fry said would be too high.
“There is [a minimum] 50 people that are disappointed in council’s performance,” Cr Fry said.