Dear Supporters,
There is a huge development in the fight to protect the Central Coast's trees. This is one update you really need to read.
Would you give up 15 minutes to help prevent thousands of Central Coast trees being removed unnecessarily?
Central Coast Council has now placed its Draft Tree and Vegetation Management Chapter XX (of its new DCP - Development Control Plan) on public exhibition.
Along with the Local Environment Plan and State Policies, the DCP is Council's key document guiding all development activity - including those that require tree pruning and removal.
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?
In the draft prepared by the Council there are inclusions that many of the local environmental community find alarming. We've observed that the draft document in its current form delivers a level of protection far below that afforded trees in other Council areas.
The document in this link spells out why in detail, but most significantly, the draft proposes:
- that trees can be removed without a Council permit based on advice from an arborist with AQF3 trade qualifications
'AQF3' sounds reassuring...BUT.... we have found out that AQF3 qualifications do not cover tree identification, assessment or reporting. This is only covered in AQF5 training! AQF3 arborist training is focused on tree climbing and trimming, not assessment. So how can we expect an AQF3 arborist to make a sound judgement on whether a tree needs removal...particularly when they benefit from it being removed?
There are other problems with the Draft Plan too, and we outline these in the document in the link below.
It's really important that each and every one of us who cares about Central Coast trees take the time to submit a comment or change to the draft. The Central Coast Council has invited public submissions closing at 5pm on the 6th December 2018.
Will you set aside a few minutes to read why the Draft Policy is a such a threat to our local trees...and a few more to write your submission? We will need many voices to argue for better protections for Central Coast's trees.
With all of our thanks, from the current tree advocates (and the future ones).
* The tree Policy Draft Comments paper was developed in consultation with many of the Central Coast 'Tree Community' including Save Wyong Trees, Save our Reserves, Pearl Beach Arboretum, GUST and qualified ecologists.