Central Coast Council has told a Parliamentary Inquiry that one of the challenges of addressing heat stress in established suburbs through tree planting is the lack of public space to allow large trees to reach maturity, just as it calls upon residents to OK the sale of a section of Austin Butler Reserve at Woy Woy by promising a greening project on the Peninsula with the proceeds of any sale.
“There is minimal space between the footpath and kerb and gutter to support trees that provide exemplar shade without the tree causing infrastructure damage,” Council said in a submission to the NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into the Impacts of Climate Change on the Environment and Communities.
And the problem extends to new developments even when landscape plans have specified trees that reach an advanced mature size, Council said.
The submission said trees on private development sites often failed to reach an expected size and canopy spread.
Performance targets to define success are lacking and a greater understanding of identifying performance measures of success are needed in this area, Council said.
At the same time, comments are set to close on November 13 on the future of 42 mature paperbark trees in Austin Butler Reserve.
The proposed sale of part of the reserve to the adjacent Peninsula Plaza shopping centre for loading dock and parking extensions was put on hold following community backlash.
Administrator Rik Hart put the question back out to residents, saying he will be guided by the community on which of two options to adopt.
The first is to retain the Austin Butler access in Council ownership and the second is to proceed with the sale of the Austin Butler access to the shopping centre to fund sourcing, planting and maintenance of more than 8,500 trees across the Peninsula region over a 10-year period.
“Funds from the sale would be allocated to an extensive street tree planting program which aligns with Council’s Greener Places Strategy,” Council has said.
The Greener Places Strategy states that developed coastal areas, such as on the Woy Woy Peninsula and south of The Entrance contain less than 10 per cent tree canopy cover.
The strategy also states that old trees, in particular those that contain hollows, have paramount importance in the urban forest and should be maintained and removal should only occur as a last resort.
Critics of the sale include 11 community groups who penned an open letter to the Council asking it to keep the land.
The public survey closes on November 13 via the website yourvoiceourcoast.com, with Council also engaging independent consultants to conduct a representative survey targeting residents of the Peninsula region.
Merilyn Vale