In March, Bathurst Regional Council engaged Australian Tree Consultants Pty Ltd to prepare and present an updated street tree assessment.

The last assessment was done in 2007.

The consultants were asked to assess trees located within all 11 heritage conservation areas (HCAs) and five heritage-listed urban parks, as well as four major gateways to Bathurst.

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The assessment update was confined to council's roadside corridors and median strips in these areas.

In total, 6837 trees were assessed.

The Bathurst HCA street tree assessment indicated a significant improvement in the condition of street trees, with 75 per cent in good health now, compared to 53 per cent in 2007.

A report from council's Engineering Services department noted that other categories saw a reduction.

"The remedial Arboricultural maintenance works undertaken by council since 2007 has resulted in fewer trees assessed in the higher risk categories of critical (one), urgent (two) and high risk (40), for the size of the population assessed in Bathurst," the report said.

"Two trees in Havannah Street, Bathurst were assessed as critical risk requiring immediate action by council, by way of removal in April 2021, due to imminent failure."

The assessment also found that close to 63 per cent of the tree population across the 10 regional HCAs were in good health, with 58 per cent having "a useful life expectancy of 50 years or more".

Australian Tree Consultants also conducted a survey on areas where possible new trees could be planted, with 356 tree planting opportunities identified.

After clarification was sought by councillor John Fry at last week's council meeting, it was confirmed that these planting opportunities were largely in new subdivisions.

"Obviously there needs to be a timeframe after the construction's finished on site before we go and attend to those so that the construction work doesn't damage the newly installed trees," acting engineering director Russell Deans said.

"There's also consideration about the appropriate time of the year to place those trees in so they've got the best chance of surviving."

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