Clover Moore’s greening plan for City of Sydney to cost $5000 per tree

Opponents say Lord Mayor Clover Moore’s grand plan of “greening Sydney” is “hypocritical” because she is actually cutting down trees.

Lord Mayor Clover Moore’s grand plan for “greening Sydney” will cost almost $5000 for every tree she plants.

At the same time as planning to plant 700 expensive new trees a year, Ms Moore has been busy cutting down well established trees and putting in bike paths and new developments.

“It is hypocritical to be talking about greening Sydney when you are chopping down mature trees,” Sydney councillor Kerryn Phelps said.

City of Sydney councillors on Monday night voted on the $377m “greening” strategy that will plant 700 trees in the city every year for the next decade.

Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore’s plan for new trees has been criticised by environmental experts. Picture: Richard Dobson

At the same time as planning to plant 700 expensive new trees a year the Lord Mayor has been busy cutting down well established trees.

Just under 10 per cent of the budgeted money will be used to plant new trees on Sydney’s streets, which works out at ­almost $5000 for each tree, despite nurseries offering Aus­tralian native saplings for as little as $2.75 each.

“It makes no sense when mature trees have been cut down in Portland Street in Zetland to make way for a cycleway that could easily have been put on the road next door,” Dr Phelps said.

Another 60 mature trees have been chopped down to make way for a luxury apartment development at the Surry Hills Shopping Centre.

In the past three years, almost 400 trees have been felled in Sydney streets to make way for development.

The trees are being cut down to make way for infrastructure including cycleways. Picture: Richard Dobson

“We need to protect our existing trees. They need to be treated as living infrastructure.” Dr Phelps said.

“I have significant concerns because it will take 20 years for those new saplings to offer the habitat existing trees give to birds and bees in the city.”

The greening strategy has also been criticised for focusing on imported trees rather than indigenous Australian trees best suited to the climate and environment.

University of NSW environmental scientist Michael Archer said proposals to plant imported plane trees went against common sense and they should not be planted “anywhere in Australia, let alone the streets of Sydney’’.

Community members are concerned about trees being removed to make way for cycleways. Picture: Jeremy Piper

“This tree is an alien invasive species that degrades Australia’s unique native bio­diversity, threatens endan­gered Australian animals by depriving them of native foods and shelter, and creates potentially fatal health problems for a significant portion of the Australian human population,” Professor Archer said.

A City of Sydney spokeswoman said: “The proposed budget of $377m on greening projects includes the development and renewal of existing parks and open spaces over the next 10 years.”

She said the tree removal at Zetland was not for the new cycleway but part of flood mitigation work and felled trees would be replaced with Australian native Tallwood trees.