You may remember in our December 2022 Journal that we highlighted the continuing loss of our trees and suggested ways in which Council could discourage deliberate vandalism and slow the alarming loss of tree canopy on private land.    Subsequently, we wrote to Council on 11 Jan 2023  suggesting several ways in which Council could strengthen its Tree and Vegetation Management Policy, particularly in ‘Complying Development’ areas, where knockdown and rebuild projects tend to build to the fence lines, removing all trees and vegetation.

Therefore we were very pleased to read in the Sydney Morning Herald of 30 July 2023 that Woollahra Council –  who have experienced similar problems with a spate of knockdown/rebuilds destroying established gardens and historic trees –  have now produced an ‘Urban Forest Strategy’ that clearly lays out their new greening rules to prevent over development at the expense of green space. Their very inclusive Council invites residents to provide feedback https://yoursay.woollahra.nsw.gov.au/ufs – an excellent initiative and a great example of what can be done.

 
We understand that our Council has completed a Street Tree Management Plan which is a good start but the greatest threat currently is from trees being removed, often illegally, from private land.  Therefore an initiative like Woollahra’s could help combat this problem.  The suggestion to implement something similar for Hunters Hill has been made to Council and we await their response.