Contrary views over trees

Cremorne Bush Care's Anthony Meggitt says groups battling against residents who want North Sydney Council to cut down trees to improve water views. Picture: Dave Swift Source: NewsLocal

Bush Care groups at Cremorne are in a battle with local residents over cutting down trees to improve their water views. Picture: Dave Swift Source: NewsLocal

Bush Care Cremorne's Frennie Beytagh, Anthony Meggitt and Victoria Whitney Picture: Dave Swift Source: NewsLocal

Bush Care's Anthony Meggitt wants North Sydney Council to refuse a petition to cut down trees. Picture: Dave Swift Source: NewsLocal

• STORY SO FAR: July 3, 2012: North Sydney Council received a petition seeking a change to existing policy that restricts view pruning in zoned bushland.
• December 10: councillors resolved to hold a site meeting at Brightmore Reserve to view the overgrown trees from relevant dwellings.
• February 2013: Bushcare volunteers petition to save Brightmore Reserve from view pruning, collecting 214 signatures at last count on Tuesday.
• The matter will return to the council for a final decision.

A PROTECTED pocket of bushland in Cremorne which provides a wildlife corridor for tawny frogmouths and king parrots is at risk of being slashed for water views if neighbours have their way.

Forty-two residents from properties adjoining Brightmore Reserve, lodged a petition with the council last year seeking permission to prune mature Sydney red gum trees.

The group is pushing to amend existing policy that restricts view pruning in zoned bushland.

"We want filtered views only we don't want our properties to devalue as a result of losing water views," Anthony Bates, of Bennelong Rd, told the council in December.

Big rains in the last 12 months resulted in denser foliage in the upper canopy.

Bushcare volunteer Anthony Meggitt said trees thickened up and thinned out naturally over time.

"Pruning them could damage the ecosystem and may even have the effect of encouraging more growth," he said.

Frennie Beytagh, of Cremorne, said changes to the existing tree preservation policy could set a bad precedent.

"All bushland may be subject to ad hoc pruning due to the selfish interests of a minority who," she said.

North Sydney Council's bushland management coordinator Gareth Debney urged the council maintain its existing policy saying pruning "would compromise the structural integrity of a bushland ecosystem and expose vegetation to the risk of (potentially lethal) plant pathogens".

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