Community concern about the removal of more than a dozen mature trees to provide road access to a new development highlights the need for comprehensive community consultation. Kalamunda, a Shire known for its green spaces has approved a development for a ‘place of worship’ that will see the removal of trees to make way for a slip road on Welshpool Road East. The Shire took a number of proposals to Main Roads who insisted that the slip road must be built to ensure safe access to the new development.
The council minutes state that use of the ‘place of worship’ will predominately be limited to a Sunday or weekends and the maximum number of parishioners is 275. At the time of the proposal, the Shire received concerns about the removal of trees and noted that community opposition was a risk. An online petition has collected more than 6,000 signatures opposing the removal of the trees.
“There must be a better way to ensure safe access to the site and still keep these trees, particularly as the amount of traffic that will access the site is so low and limited to weekends. Why is it so often that trees become the victim to short cuts in planning decisions?
“This welcoming avenue of trees makes a strong entry statement to Lesmurdie and the removal of the trees has understandably caused community concern. It is no longer acceptable for the council to just be perfunctory in its consultation methods especially when it comes to locals and their environment.