Knotty issue of unsuitable street trees

BY NICHOLAS BOYACK - HUTT NEWS

Residents will soon have to make hard decisions about the number and quality of trees in their street.

The city council has adopted a new policy, known as the Urban Forest Plan, which makes it clear that many of trees on city berms are unsuitable and need replacing.

The plan was last week enthusiastically adopted by councillors, who get numerous complaints about trees.

The next step is for "master plans" to be drawn up on a ward by ward basis for every street. These will identify which trees should remain, and the layout and species of chosen trees.

The council is encouraging community involvement in drawing up the plans.

Reserves manager Kelly Crandle says there are too many trees on berms, many are of a poor quality and some are a hazard to overhead power and phone lines.

"If we do not do something with the street trees that are under lines, we face a massive increase in expenditure and a massive reduction in quality."

Many of the trees planted in the past were unsuitable and have taken over berms and now dominate street landscapes.

The budget for pruning and replacing trees under lines is $100,000 per annum but will need to increase to $276,000 without change. That is hard to justify long-term, she says.

The power companies have told her the tree hazard will soon become a chronic problem.

Installing power lines underground has been looked at but in recent years the price has gone up from $10,000a span (about 50 metres) to $40,000.

There are 12,100 trees in the city and 53 per cent of those are under wires.

The council frequently gets complaints about the pruning of street trees, with residents claiming it is ugly and unnecessary.

Ms Crandle says that if the council does not take appropriate action, dissatisfaction and the number of complaints will only increase.

Deciding what trees will have be taken out is potentially a huge headache for the council. Ms Crandle hopes to head off complaints by involving residents in street plans.

The biggest problem is in the Central Ward, where many of the streets are dominated by massive pohutukawas.

Hinau St is one of the worst. In such streets, it will come down to making decisions about every tree.

With some of the better specimens, the council might be prepared to look at undergrounding services.

The plan has also raised the issue of equity across the city. Generally speaking, the wealthier the suburb, the more street trees dot the berms.

There are parts of Naenae that have very few trees and that Ms Crandle describes as bleak.

In contrast, Eastbourne and the central city are well catered for with street trees and ones on private property.

One option that might be considered is supplying residents with trees in order to beautify suburbs.

The strategy and policy committee, which last week adopted the plan, heard a plea from Eastbourne resident John Oliver.

He told the committee that large pohutukawas in his street were having a huge impact on his quality of life.

In winter, the trees blocked 84 per cent of the sunshine his house received. As a result, the lower storey of his house was colder than his fridge and they were forced to live upstairs. He called on councillors to introduce a policy to prevent such situations occurring.

Ms Crandle told the committee that Mr Oliver had a justified complaint and his situation was not good.

He had three very large pohutukawa trees sitting on the ridgeline of his house and as a result he got no sun.
That is a common problem in Eastbourne and the central city but is not easy to resolve.

However, neighbours often do not want the trees removed. It is hard to justify making a decision that benefits one homeowner.

Case study

Wayne Everleigh has lived in Hinau St for 12 years and likes the large pohutakawas which dominate the street. But they do cause problems for residents.

"They overlap on to our garden. Shade and no sun is definitely a problem."

In his case the pohutakawa extends well over his section and it drops large amounts of flowers, leaves and branches, which all need to be cleaned up.

To prune the tree would require an arborist and seeing it is a council tree, the council should be responsible, he says.

He can understand why the council prunes the trees under wires but says that pruning results in trees that are ugly.

Some houses are severely shaded and Mr Everleigh says he is pleased to hear that the council plans to do something about the situation.