Coast suburbs split on urban green plan due to dangers of falling trees
Council plans to plant more trees in Gold Coast suburbs have been met with resistance – with some residents said to be suffering from ‘tree phobia’. What do you think? Vote in our poll.
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Cyclone Alfred and the 2023 Christmas tornado-like event have caused “tree phobia” with residents in some Gold Coast suburbs against greening up the city.
But other property owners, in the city’s north, are demanding replacement trees after the “derecho” more than a year ago cut through hillsides, wiping out all vegetation in its path.
Tropical Cyclone Alfred caused about 150,000 homes to be without power — some for more than a week — with larger trees causing havoc by tumbling into power lines.
The split in the community was revealed after council officers said they wanted to develop council’s first ‘Urban Forest’ plan, requiring $600,000 to be approved in funding to create the blueprint.
The $600,000 would be used to employ consultants to undertake technical studies into green coverage in urban areas.
If implemented, the plan ultimately aimed to reduce “urban heat islands” in suburbs and green them up, increasing tree canopies to 15 per cent in the capital city centre, 25 per cent in urban residential and light commercial areas and 50 per cent in suburban residential areas.
The City currently spends $7 million a year on fixing damaged trees, $2 million on “improved maintenance” and $3 million on planting.
Councillors at Tuesday’s full council meeting will vote on the plan but at an earlier debate were conflicted because of the different responses from residents to the weather events.
Broadwater-based councillor Shelley Curtis told officers that “as a representative of an area that has developed a pretty profound tree phobia” it was important for her to support further technical studies.
Ms Curtis said Coombabah residents living next to nature reserves were concerned about the stability of older, taller gum trees. But many residents elsewhere wanted replacement trees.
Officers said the aim of the new policy was to “get the right species in the right locations in the new suburbs”.
Former Deputy Mayor Donna Gates asked for northern suburbs to be given priority as trees needed to be replaced after the damage caused by the Christmas storm.
“It just took out so much of our vegetation. We do need to keep working on replacing them,” she said.
But hinterland-based Councillor Glenn Tozer, while supportive of the policy, voted against the funding of it.
“While I’m very supportive of many environmental initiatives in the city, spending an additional $600,000 on tree planting in the urban area totally misreads sentiment in my community,” he said.
“Frankly, the urban forest review is a very good project that will help us plan for the future, devising species and locations that make sense in the context of our recent storm damage.
“But it can be funded by current budget allocation instead of extra spending. I’d even forego some trees in my area to help fund restoration in other more affected areas. We have plenty of trees in Division 9.
“In my view, residents want us to put downward pressure on rates while carefully considering where we plant trees to try to mitigate storm damage from future cyclone events. The committee today lacked sufficient regard for that, in my personal view.”
The report from council officers said the latest tree canopy data from 2018 reported the urban footprint canopy cover at 32 per cent.
The figure was down due to construction of the Coomera Connector, the Christmas Day December 2023 storm and Ex Tropical Cyclone Alfred in March, along with the increase in urban development across the city, they said.
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