Proposed planning amendment to let private schools axe legally protected trees

The government is proposing planning changes that would give private schools special privileges, sparking fears for grand old gums at an Adelaide girls’ school.

Conservation Council SA chief executive Kirsty Bevan is against government planning changes which would allow private schools to damage significant and regulated trees in SA. Picture: Brenton Edwards

Private schools in South Australia will be allowed to remove significant trees under proposed new legislation, alarming environmentalists who have voiced fears over the future of gum trees on land owned by Walford Anglican School for Girls.

The state government last month proposed the planning changes, which would exempt private schools from a requirement to seek council approval to remove or damage significant or regulated trees, after public schools were granted the same exemption in 2017.

Conservation Council SA chief executive Kirsty Bevan said the regulatory changes in 2017 “continue to have a devastating impact on our urban tree canopy”.

“Including private schools in that, many of which still have large green canopy areas, is a step backwards,” she said.

Ms Bevan said trees such as the old lemon-scented gums at Walford Parks Playing Fields could be removed under the amendment, after Mitcham Council did not approve Walford’s 2019 application to remove the trees.

The school’s application to remove 17 trees at the Hawthorn site was deferred by a council panel in 2020 after council officers recommended refusing it.

Tom Morrison, a tree campaigner and Mitcham councillor, said there was “not a lot of rationale” for removing the Walford trees. “I don’t think those trees should be removed unless there’s a valid reason to remove them,” he said.

Mr Morrison said the application preceded his time at the council and stressed that he was not speaking on behalf of the council.

Planning Minister Nick Champion said the amendment would “ensure there is no difference between tree controls applying to a school site – regardless of whether it is a state or private school”.

“The government considers that all schools are sites where trees can, in some cases, pose a significant risk to children’s safety,” he said.

“The exemption for state schools to be able to remove trees has been in existence since the tree controls first came into effect, and we have not seen widespread removal of trees on state school sites.”

In May last year, the government strengthened tree canopy laws to protect trees with smaller trunk circumferences and increased fees for damaging regulated trees.

In 2015, private school St Peter’s College appealed in court over Norwood, Payneham and St Peter’s Council’s refusal to approve its plans to axe a river red gum tree from its grounds.

The government is seeking feedback from the public on its proposed amendments until April 22.

Walford Anglican School for Girls and Mitcham Council were contacted for comment.