By Michaela Whitbourn
Under the canopy of five stately old fig trees in Sydney’s eastern suburbs rumbles a row playing out in many neighbourhoods across the city: a foliage fight.
A group of more than 20 residents has mobilised in a bid to stop Randwick City Council sending in the chainsaws to tree-lined Quail Street, Clovelly, to raze one of five interlinked figs. It follows a complaint about damage to private property and a claim for repair costs.
A residents’ group is campaigning to save Quail Street tree: Back, left to right: Ange Monk, Greg Wilesmith, Jacqui Fox, Ian Schmidt, Karin Karuso. Front, left to right: Louisa Wright, Kiran Griffin and child.Credit: Edwina Pickles
Councillors voted by majority on February 25 to remove the decades-old Hills weeping fig in the beachside enclave and replace it with a “super advanced” weeping lilly pilly at an estimated cost of $15,000.
But the band of locals, whose cause has caught the attention of federal independent MP Allegra Spender, believes the council has scant evidence the fig tree has caused property damage, including to a brick fence that was altered last year to relocate a gate.
Quail Street resident Petrana Lorenz, whose unit overlooks the tree, said: “When you buy into a street like this, you understand that the trees are there, and it’s a rare privilege to live in a street like that and have an ecosystem around you.”
The tree that is slated to be cut down and replaced with a lilly pilly.Credit: Edwina Pickles
Her children were born in the street and had grown up “waking up to the sound of the parrots, peering out the window at the bats, the birds, the possums”. It was “like being in the middle of a rainforest – that’s special and really needs to be protected.”
Lorenz said noise pollution in the street increased exponentially when another fig tree in the street was cut down over a decade ago. “We live by busy roads, and the traffic can be loud, but the trees and the wildlife do an incredible job at filtering it out.”
The trees were about 60 to 80 years old, she said, and “walls go up and come down. Pavements crack. But this tree is not something you can just replace overnight”.
Removing the green outlook from her apartment would increase noise pollution, diminish enjoyment of the property and affect its value, she said.
Councils were investing heavily in minimising “human heat stress”, she said, and “trees with a thick canopy like this are probably the best investment that you could have”.
A council report concluded the roots of the 24-metre tree could not be pruned further without affecting its structural stability and health, and removing it would have negligible impact on fauna and habitat.
“Further, based on our insurer’s recommendation to settle the claim, [the] council would no longer be insured for damage caused by this tree and its roots,” the report said.
This is not the first time a dispute over the trees has erupted. Residents petitioned the council 20 years ago to save the trees following a proposal for all five to be removed.
Another local, Frankie Sullivan, said “all legitimate avenues, including legal action”, were being “actively pursued” to persuade the council to reconsider.
“Council have now been furnished with a structural engineer’s report obtained at the expense of residents. That report does not conclude that the tree has caused the damage as claimed,” Sullivan said.
Local homeowner Rob Aird, an engineer who works in construction and property development, said the tree was scheduled to be chopped down on Thursday, but the council advised in the morning there would be a reprieve pending an extraordinary general meeting on March 25.
A residents’ group is mobilising to save a giant fig tree in Quail Street, Clovelly.Credit: Edwina Pickles
“I’m concerned that council will continue down the same path,” he said.
“Our ask is simply that they go back and reassess the fact base with the insurance company and make an appropriate decision, including based on our new engineering report.”
The residents’ group paid for the report from an expert, who is known to the group. The report concluded that none of the proposed repair work was “currently justified”.
Foliage fight
- Randwick City Council has set a target of 40 per cent tree canopy cover on council-managed land by 2040.
- The five Hills weeping fig trees in Quail Street, Clovelly, are estimated to be up to 80 years old.
- More than 20 residents paid for an expert engineer’s report about the likelihood that the one tree slated for removal by the council caused damage to private property.
Spender, whose seat of Wentworth encompasses Clovelly, said residents were “very concerned by this proposal, so I am writing to the mayor and councillors”. She would request they “carefully review” the report “and respond to the evidence before any decision is made”.
A Randwick City Council spokesperson said tree removal was “always a last resort after all other options to manage the tree such as canopy and root pruning and repairing footpaths are undertaken”.
“The tree in question is causing significant structural damage to both public infrastructure and private property and there is a financial risk that council may be liable for any future damage caused by the tree.”
The council had called the EGM in light of residents’ concerns and “to seek clarification from insurers around future liability”.
It was “committed to ... increasing our city’s tree canopy to 40 per cent on council managed land” by 2040, and had “planted more than 2000 advanced street trees” in the past two years.
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