In her Greening Benalla action group report in late November Sue Campbell spoke with passion and her usual well researched position about a tree in Bridge Street near the Reject Shop area for which a removal application has been instituted. The possible removal of the tree has caused Sue great concern. Her presentation raised alarm bells for members of the group. Read the Executive Summary of Sue's Submission to Benalla Rural City Council...
On December 12th a thought provoking post on the Benalla Community Notice Board Facebook page by Giulia Franchesci raised her concerns ...
"Hello Benalla people....
I believe we are at point if we don’t start to protect mature public shade trees, dangerous precedents are being set by Landowners and Council’s to remove any, and all, public trees that are considered “problematic”.
LET’S SAVE IT!!!
Over the last 40 or more years this tree has OXYGENATED, REFRESHED, SHADED and BEAUTIFED our little space on this planet. Benalla.
LET’S US GIVE A THANKS BY RESISTING HIS REMOVAL.
Every word or deed spent in his cause it will help.
Let’s learn to be responsible human beings.
Let’s protect what protects us.
Even the least environmental aware community members would probably prefer to park in shade away from our hot sun.
The tree is there for all of society’s benefit.
I am not sure if one land owner’s convenience should not have the right to destroy something that will benefit all of us for centuries."
With love Giulia"
GF
On December 12th a thought provoking post on the Benalla Community Notice Board Facebook page by Giulia Franchesci raised her concerns ...
"Hello Benalla people....
I believe we are at point if we don’t start to protect mature public shade trees, dangerous precedents are being set by Landowners and Council’s to remove any, and all, public trees that are considered “problematic”.
LET’S SAVE IT!!!
Over the last 40 or more years this tree has OXYGENATED, REFRESHED, SHADED and BEAUTIFED our little space on this planet. Benalla.
LET’S US GIVE A THANKS BY RESISTING HIS REMOVAL.
Every word or deed spent in his cause it will help.
Let’s learn to be responsible human beings.
Let’s protect what protects us.
Even the least environmental aware community members would probably prefer to park in shade away from our hot sun.
The tree is there for all of society’s benefit.
I am not sure if one land owner’s convenience should not have the right to destroy something that will benefit all of us for centuries."
With love Giulia"
GF
The post received 87 likes and 45 comments between December 12 and 24, however most too late to result in submission/s to council re the application which closed on 16 December. The comments are worth reading through, however you do need to be a group member to see and respond to them. The Benalla Community Notice Board is a well moderated page and is worth joining.
Marcus Bolger's post is particularly relevant ...."Hi everyone. I have now read the development application on the Council website. The Council engaged experts who carried out ground penetrating radar tests and they established that damage to the footpath in the vicinity of the gas meter is likely caused by tree roots. However the experts concluded “Pruning of the identified roots, or other root management options, could be undertaken to resolve the issue.” The experts did not recommend removal of the tree. I visited the tree today and any damage to the footpath to date seems minimal. The applicant for the tree removal, Mr Dean Steegstra, described the tree as being in good condition, with a high significance rating and high roadside conservation value, with a useful life expectancy of 20 plus years and low risk to persons. Accordingly there appears to be a good argument to retain the tree and carry out root pruning, rather than tree removal."
Bev Lee