DESPITE recent storms bringing down thousands of trees causing millions of dollars worth of damage, Newcastle Greens councillor Therese Doyle has called for stricter rules on cutting them down and accused the council of chainsawing more than it needed to.
She said the post-storm danger posed by trees was being ‘‘significantly overstated’’ and was ‘‘like the shark theory’’.
‘‘There’s more chance of being killed by a shark or a car than a falling tree,’’ she said.
‘‘I have great sympathy for those who were killed during the storms last week, but it should be remembered they were killed by floodwater, not by trees.’’
The comments came as she defended moves by the Greens to strengthen levels of community consultation over the council’s tree policies.
She said ‘‘people’’ had complained about the council chopping down nine London plane trees in Newcastle’s King Street two weeks ago, and there needed to be a better process of consultation.
It also follows the removal of up to five trees from Laman Street at the weekend.
In a notice of motion set to be tabled at Tuesday night’s council meeting, Cr Doyle and Greens counterpart Michael Osborne call for a briefing on the council’s current tree policy, call for a new committee to be established to determine what trees should stay or go, and for a moratorium on the removal of ‘‘significant trees’’ except those which pose a ‘‘significantly imminent and otherwise avoidable danger’’.
Cr Doyle said the council’s consultation with the public and councillors on the removal of the King Street plane trees was poor. But the Newcastle Herald has seen a string of emails that were sent to all councillors in the two months prior to the work being done.
It was also included in the council’s operational plan, which was approved by councillors.
It was announced in four media releases also sent to councillors, was the subject of paid advertisements in the media, and the subject of face to face meetings between council, business and property owners in King Street.
Asked who else should have been consulted, Cr Doyle said ‘‘all of the LGA’’.
‘‘Putting notices up is not proper consultation, and since the Laman Street figs fiasco, people feel disenfranchised by the process,’’ Cr Doyle said.
‘‘It’s not just people in King Street affected by the trees. The trees are in the city centre which belongs to everyone, and they add a sense of place and grandeur to the city.’’
Cr Doyle also accused the council of using the storm damage as an excuse to take out more trees than was needed.
‘‘Some obviously had to be removed after the storm, but there were many that were borderline and I question whether we needed to lose as many as we have.’’
Her comments angered some of her opposition councillors.
‘‘Therese Doyle has shown an absolute lack of empathy and decency and a lot of stupidity,’’ councillor Brad Luke said.
‘‘People have had homes badly damaged and their lives have been put at risk.
‘‘If the Greens plan goes ahead, will Therese Doyle offer to personally indemnify anyone who suffers loss or damage or injury?’’
Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes distanced herself and the council from the comments.
‘‘They are the views of Therese Doyle and not something I’d personally agree with,’’ she said. ‘‘But this council has been managing the risk to life posed from falling trees for a week so far and we will continue to manage public safety as our priority