Campbelltown Council plans to plant 23,000 trees after losing six per cent of its canopy cover in a decade
Campbelltown has lost six per cent of its tree canopy cover in the past decade from intense development. The council has a plan to fix it but it will take the next 25 years.
The Adelaide council hardest hit by urban infill needs to plant 23,000 trees to combat climate change, says a report.
Campbelltown Council will annually plant 1000 street trees over the next 25 years after heat mapping showed it had lost 6 per cent of its canopy cover in a decade.
Only 19 per cent of cover remained within the council’s boundaries, with Newton, Hectorville, Tranmere and Campbelltown worst affected.
The four suburbs have experienced intense development since council was forced to reduce its minimum building block size to 150 sqm by the previous Labor government.
The staff report said at least 23,000 trees needed to be planted to restore the council’s canopy cover to a minimum of 20 per cent by 2045.
However, one of the biggest problems replacing the trees removed by property developers was finding areas in which new ones could be planted.
“The issue in trying to increase green cover in these areas is the lack of space left to plant a suitable street tree,’’ said the report.
“Additional driveways, setbacks, essential services including powerlines and footpath width requirements all compound to leave limited space for trees.”
The report said community awareness needed to be raised about the impact which impervious surfaces such as concrete driveways, footpaths and kerbing had on trees.
“Without sufficient water infiltration the trees can be living in a constant state of stress, do not flourish and are more likely to react poorly under pressure such as extreme heat or storm events,” it said.
“Therefore it is not as simple as planting a tree. There is a need to create a system that supports them as an asset.”