The City of Nedlands is trying its tree-saving luck again, drafting a new tree retention policy after a similar scheme was knocked back in February.
During a briefing on Tuesday night, city councillors discussed if the policy could be a means to prevent the loss of mature trees and maintain canopy coverage.
It is based on a template pulled together by the WA Local Government Association after similar proposals from several other councils were knocked back.
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READ NOW“The adoption of a common template as a foundational basis will assist achieving a level of consistency and acceptance across local governments,” a City of Nedlands report explained.
One of the differences in the new policy is to exclude common tree maintenance from needing council approval.
“This results in less onerous restrictions on landowners maintaining their gardens,” the report said.
The council’s second attempt at regulating tree removal from private properties comes after Planning Minister John Carey knocked back the city’s proposal to change its planning scheme that would have forced private landowners to seek council approval to remove trees.
Those rules would have applied to trees more than 8m high or more than 6m in diameter in blocks zoned R20 — those which allow two dwellings per 1000sqm — and below.
“The Nedlands proposal wasn’t affecting big developers, it was actually affecting mums and dads and other households in those low density areas,” Mr Carey told ABC.
“There wasn’t the community support that the City of Nedlands claimed.”
The council report said Mr Carey’s refusal of the planning scheme amendment left the city without any way to protect mature trees, which acting planning director Roy Winslow said on Tuesday was “disappointing”.
“We’ve been focused on policy response since the disappointing news,” Mr Winslow said.
“If we had been able to get the Minister to approve the scheme amendment, then that would be a law and yes, that’s strong. Policy (is) not so strong.”
Earlier this year Mr Carey knocked back similar proposals from the City of South Perth and Town of Bassendean.
Nedlands’ policy will be considered at its next council meeting on April 23.