Gympie Regional Council faces a major headache as local traders fight to save trees

The controversial decision to remove two huge and healthy leopard trees in the main street of Gympie has sparked tensions between Gympie Regional Council and the business community.

Gympie Chamber of Commerce president Tony Goodman chained to one of two leopard trees he is fighting to save in the main street of Gympie after the local council marked them for removal and replacement on safety gorunds. The trees are due to be chopped down this Sunday.

Business leaders and the Gympie council are set to clash heads in a Mary St showdown over the fate of two leopard trees controversially marked for termination.

Gympie Chamber of Commerce president and Mary St trader Tony Goodman said he was not backing down in his fight to secure a stay of execution for the “hidden gems” of the street.

The council has marked the trees, located outside the Mia Bella jewellery shop, for removal this Sunday, August 22.

They are to be replaced by two teddy bear trees a week later.

Mayor Glen Hartwig said last week their roots were causing damage to underground infrastructure and shifting the pavement, creating a safety hazard.

The majority of councillors supported the decision to remove and replace them, a choice they said was made by staff.

Mayor Glen Hartwig said the trees were damaging businesses and infrastructure and posed a safety risk to pedestrians.

Mr Goodman has called for the council to jam the brakes on the plan and allow the community to explore other options before the trees are destroyed.

A meeting between himself and Mr Hartwig had not led to a resolution he was satisfied with, he said.

“All we’re asking for is a stay of execution,” Mr Goodman said on Wednesday, adding that he had the support of more than 30 other traders on the street who wanted the trees saved.

The trees may have been marked for replacement by the council a decade ago, he said, but plenty had changed since then.

“They are our point of difference to shopping centres,” he said.

The trees were marked for replacement by the council a decade ago, but Mr Goodman said a lot had changed since then and they had become “hidden gems” of the region.

The trees were now a part of the street’s “long developed image, built over a long period of time”.

Mr Goodman understood the council’s concerns about safety – two people have tripped and been injured in witnessed incidents – and the effect it could have on the council’s public liability.

He was exploring what options might be available to solve that problem.

It was, in fact, the lack of clear options that was at the heart of the issue.

“There’s been no public consultation,” Mr Goodman said.

If maintaining and fixing the damage from the trees came down to simple costs, Mr Goodman said the council should dip into the “big communal rates base” being paid out by traders on the street.

“Why don’t they tap into some of that?”