Wollondilly Council considers Sydney City tree policies
Wollondilly Council may soon adopt a City of Sydney-inspired tree conservation policy as the area prepares to combat the mass clearing of trees due to major residential developments.
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The rural beauty of the Wollondilly area may be preserved a little longer, with a City of Sydney-inspired policy being considered to protect the region’s tall timber.
Rising concerns about the mass logging of trees in order to flatten the path for major residential developments has seen Wollondilly Council explore ways to encourage developers to preserve trees.
Council officers have explored policies from the City of Sydney and City of Melbourne as part of the process. Mayor Matthew Deeth said he believed the policies from the two city councils would be effective for the area.
“This is something I’m actually really quite excited about,” he said.
“The City of Sydney have a formula for how they measure the value of their trees … and the economic benefit that the tree provides in terms of the heat island effect and a whole range of other issues.
“I think there has there has been a lot that’s already been established through other councils and we can certainly learn a lot.”
One policy which could be adopted is a Tree Valuation Policy, where individual trees are valued in relation to the species, aesthetics, condition and locality. Developers who wish to remove the tree would have to pay council the cost of the tree’s value, with the money to be then allocated for local environmental purposes.
Thousands of trees are currently at risk in the Wollondilly area with major developments pencilled in across the region, including more than 15,000 homes in Wilton New Town alone.
The mass logging threat also places the region’s unique disease-free koala population at risk.
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Deputy Mayor Matthew Gould, who first raised the motion in May, also welcomed the potential policies.
“Everybody in the Shire is well aware of the challenges we are facing and a number of development sites where we are just losing a huge amount of trees,” he said.
“I’d really like to be seeing development sites where we’re not clear-filling everything. That there is actually some trees left and it retains the character which is Wollondilly.”
Wollondilly Council officers will prepare further reports on possible tree preservation policies.