Elliot Heads residents up in arms over council trees along foreshore

Coastal residents near Bundaberg claim they were threatened with repercussions from the local council if they did not stop complaining about a row of trees they fear will disrupt their view and damage their multimillion-dollar homes.

A group of Elliot Heads’ residents have claimed Bundaberg council officers threatened to use council’s powers to target them after they complained about trees planted between their properties and the foreshore.

The complaints are focused on a row of casuarina trees planted by council outside staff alongside a pathway traversing the foreshore on Sea Esplanade at Elliot Heads around mid-August 2023.

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One of the residents, Colin Ahern, said no notification or opportunities to provide feedback were given to residents before the trees were planted - trees that will grow up to 12m high and disrupt the view from the homes along Sea Esplanade.

Elliott Heads’ resident Colin Ahern said when residents spoke to council officers to express their objections to the trees being planted about 13m from their homes, they were told it was better not to complain as the council could use its powers to target them.

A former marketing and communications executive with insurance giant QBE, Mr Ahern and his wife moved from Melbourne to Bundaberg in 2021 upon his retirement when they purchased the two-storey house at the end of Sea Esplanade for about $2 million.

Mr Ahern said the couple paid about $6000 per year in general rates to council.

Beyond the disruption to the view from the multimillion-dollar homes, the trees were planted at a distance of about 13m from the properties, which is significantly short of Queensland Building and Construction Commission guidelines for casuarina trees.

The QBCC guidelines state casuarina trees should be planted 20-30m from homes to avoid structural damage from subsidence caused by the extraction of moisture from the soil by the trees’ roots.

QBCC guidelines recommend planting casuarina trees between 20 and 30m from homes to avoid structural damage.

Mr Ahern, 68, said that when residents expressed their objections to council officers engaged in planting the trees and other landscaping work along the foreshore, the officers allegedly said “it’s better not to complain as the council can use its powers to target you”.

Other officers told residents “if you don’t pull your head in, we’ll put a bus stop at the front of your house,” Mr Ahern said.

Mr Ahern met with Division 6 councillor Tanya McLoughlin at his home in September 2023 to discuss the issues, but he did not feel that she took residents’ concerns seriously.

“Everything I got was basically just a council-drafted email that she put her name on the bottom,” Mr Ahern said.

“I spoke to her about a range of things and I didn’t feel like she was acting in the interests of any of the people along here.”

In November 2023, Mr Ahern submitted an administrative action complaint seeking a meeting between residents and council, asking for the trees to be moved at least 20m away from the properties and calling for training for council employees to address an “autocratic/arrogant view held by (some) council staff about the powers of the council”.

In a response sent by governance and risk officer Rebecca Hill to Mr Ahern one month later, Ms Hill said the trees were planted to provide shade along the foreshore pathway forming part of a Coastal Network Pathway being developed from Burnett Heads to Elliot Heads.

Ms Hill said the trees were spaced at a greater distance than in other areas of Elliott Heads in order to lessen their impact on residents’ view, but said “there is no common law right to a view”.

Elliot Heads resident Colin Ahern said council had been "arrogant" in their interactions with residents.

Regarding the proximity of the casuarina trees to the properties, Ms Hill said council’s arborist had advised that the roots would spread less than other varieties due to the exposed environment and clay soil, and said “it is expected that there will be no impact on” Mr Ahern’s property.

Ms Hill rejected Mr Ahern’s request for a meeting with residents, saying it was “not feasible” for council to engage in “extensive public consultation” on all council decisions, but said the council had displayed signage in the area prior to the planting of the trees.

Mr Ahern is adamant that he did not see any signage despite walking along the foreshore six days a week, and none of the residents with whom he had interacted had seen the signage referred to by Ms Hill either.

Ms Hill did not address Mr Ahern’s complaint about the interactions with council officers because he did not directly participate in those interactions.

Mr Ahern escalated his complaint to the Queensland Ombudsman on Monday.

With some expertise on public communications from his professional life, Mr Ahern said his interactions with the Bundaberg council had been far short of public expectations.

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“The point I’m trying to make to council is if you communicate and engage with your community, then you’re more likely to get the outcome that you want than if you just do stuff,” he said.

“It seems to be (due to) the arrogance of council; I’ve never engaged with council in all my life and then I’ve come here and it just seems to be issue after issue after issue.”

Bundaberg council did not respond to a request for comment by deadline.

Originally published as Elliot Heads residents up in arms over council trees along foreshore