Cleveland residents have lashed out at Redland City Council’s decision to remove several trees near their homes, saying they were never consulted on the plan and it has ruined their street’s appeal.
Margarets View resident John Fletcher said he was left disappointed after he woke to find that five lilly pilly trees beside a property on South Street had been removed.
“Our laneway used to be all greenery and now all of a sudden we are looking at a blank wall,” he said.
Mr Fletcher said when he contacted council seeking answers about the removal, he was told the property owner had requested through the office of the mayor for the trees to be trimmed or pruned.
“They clearly have not been pruned, they have been removed,” he said.
“The trees are located in our street, not theirs.”
A council spokesman said the property owner had requested for the lilly pillys to be pruned but a council arborist noted the trees were starting to damage the property.
“On inspection, a council arborist noted the trees were starting to damage the fence, had been previously lopped, and the structure of the trees had been compromised,” he said.
“Council advised the property owner that a decision had been made to remove rather than prune the five lilly pilly trees.”
Council said it had also advised the adjacent property owner when vegetation work occurred.
Numerous Margarets View residents expressed their concerns to Division 3 councillor Paul Golle.
Cr Golle said he was not made aware of the removal until contacted by residents and decided to investigate the situation further.
“The request came from the mayor’s office and was a customer request to trim the height and width of the tree,” he said.
Cr Golle said that previously, just around the corner on South Street, council had denied a developer’s request to remove street trees for the purpose of adding driveways.
“On one hand the council wants to keep and preserve street trees and enforce them to stay in place but had no hesitation to remove them in Margarets View,” he said.
“The inconsistency is the main problem.”
Cr Golle said he had lodged a request to have new street trees planted.
“This used to be a beautiful little laneway down to houses and they need to be replaced,” he said.
