Melbourne council planted tree in middle of road on suburban street

EVERYONE likes a suburban street shaded by trees, but these residents were left scratching their heads when council planted a new specimen.

A LOCAL council in Melbourne has left residents furious and motorists frustrated when it decided the best way to mend a pothole in the middle of the road was to plant a tree in it.

The surprising specimen cropped up on Somerset St in St Kilda after residents complained the hole was a traffic hazard.

Port Phillip Council has since been dubbed the “Fawlty Towers” of councils by locals. The Mayor told news.com.au a confused council worker whose “intentions were good” was to blame.

The odd gardening effort occurred following a year of construction work which had led to the street being closed.

Port Phillip Council was asked to fix a pothole in the middle of a street in St Kilda but planted a tree instead. Picture: George Salpigtidis

When the street reopened, there was a big hole in it. Residents asked council to mend the pavement as they believed it to be dangerous.

But when the work was done, rather than finding fresh asphalt on the road, they found a small tree in the hole instead.

“Port Phillip is the Fawlty Towers of councils,” a statement by Somerset St residents, sent to The Leader said.

The council said a confused worker may have mistook the pothole for a space to plant a tree. Picture: George Salpigtidis

They have asked council to shift the tree so pedestrians and motorists don’t run into it.

In a statement, Port Philip Mayor Bernadene Voss told news.com.au residents loved trees and the council planed around 400 a year. But this planting, she conceded, was not “appropriate”.

She said it was likely the hole was a square deliberately cut into the tarmac to allow a crane to work on the adjoining development.

“As that development has recently been completed, a Council officer was checking the area and assumed the deliberately cut out piece of road, which did not resemble a pothole, was an existing tree plot as there are other trees along the street.

Port Phillip Mayor Bernadene Voss (left) said the tree would be removed. Picture: Wayne Taylor.

“While our intentions were good, we acknowledge our mistake and quickly relocated the tree,” Mayor Voss said.

“The cut out will be filled with asphalt by Council today and the builder of the development will soon arrange to resurface the road to fix potholes.”

A local council in Perth was in the spotlight last week after a local family complained a lamppost was in the middle of their driveway.

Mullaloo couple Antonio and Nancy Grasso are fighting their local council and Western Power to have the lamp post moved.

“If we have visitors, we always have to say to them mind the post, we were going to put a flag there or something to remind them when they reverse,” Ms Grasso told Nine News.

But unlike Port Phillip in Melbourne, the local council in Perth is in no mood to shift the post.

The council says the grandparents never sought approval to build a double driveway around the lamp post so has asked them to cut back the driveway to its approved size. It says that moving the post will compromise lighting to the intersecting street and that it is unable to access an underground cable to fix it.