At last Auckland City Council has publicly notified their proposal to add the Oak and the Pohutukawa at 321 Rosebank Road, Avondale, to the schedule of notable trees in the District Plan. This was published in Auckland City Council's weekly news sheet, 'City Scene' this weekend, and submissions close on Friday 24th September.

Details and documents about the proposed plan change - 'proposed plan modification 296' - can be found on Auckland City Council website

Auckland City Council's change of policy to schedule these trees followed a range of community action:

• The Tree Council's High Court action in early March 2010 which temporarily stopped the felling of the Pohutukawa,
• Avondale Community Board recommending that the trees be scheduled (end April 2010) following a presentation to the Board.
• The Tree Council working with local residents and Avondale Community Gardeners to publicise the issue, encouraging supporters to contact the developer and the Council with their views, and then producing a 1,100 signature petition within 2 weeks, and many supporting letters, requesting that the Council schedule both trees, submitted to Council 21st June
• Auckland City Council's City Development Committee (8th July) recommending that they be scheduled immediately. The Tree Council, Avondale Community Gardeners and local resident Nina Patel made a deputation to the committee, to find that officers had responded to the trees' high profile and support, and had made their own recommendation to the Committee that the trees be scheduled immediately. The Council's existing policy has been only to assess trees for scheduling, then give that information to the new Auckland Council to schedule, hopefully sometime next year.

IT IS REALLY IMPORTANT THAT THE PUBLIC SHOW SUPPORT FOR BOTH TREES TO BE SCHEDULED. We cannot rely just on the Council's proposal to win the argument. This will be contested by the developer, John McKearney.

What protection will scheduling give the trees?
Scheduling is the highest form of tree protection offered by Auckland City Council. If a tree is listed/scheduled as a notable tree in the District Plan, any application to fell a tree, or to do major works around it, will be assessed against a range of criteria which is set very high (higher than for general tree protection) and includes:

• the necessity of carrying out the works
• the extent to which the tree provides amenity to the neighbourhood
• whether any proposed work under the dripline would damage the health of the tree
• whether there are alternative locations or methods for the applicant to undertake their work or activities.

From 1st January 2012, unless there is a change of heart, or a change in government, and unless a tree on private, urban, land is scheduled, there will be no other form of protection allowed under the RMA, and no permission will be needed to fell or damage a tree.

PLEASE WRITE A SUBMISSION - deadline 24th September 2010
Your submission need only be a paragraph, but you can also write as much as you want. You can download a submission form, or do one on-line. You don't need to do it on a form, but your letter must contain the following information:

• Your name and address for correspondence, plus phone and email if possible
• The date of submission.
• The plan modification name and number - ie Plan Modification 296 - Isthmus District Plan
• The part/parts of the plan modification that you support/oppose - ie. support all of it
• The reasons for your support/opposition of the plan modification.
• What decision you are seeking from Council - ie that Auckland City Council should accept their proposal!
• Whether you wish to be heard at the public council plan modification hearing - ie whether you would be prepared to speak at a hearing to support your submission, or whether you would be prepared to present a joint case at the hearing with any others making a similar submission
• Your signature.

Send it to: Auckland City Council, Private Bag 92516, Wellesley Street, Auckland (attention: lead notification specialist, City Planning), or deliver it in person to: Level 10, Civic Administration Building, 1 Greys Avenue, Auckland City

State your reasons as to why you consider that these trees are worthy of extra protection. The aspects considered important for scheduling are the following:

• whether there is any community value/support/meaning/benefit
• whether there is any historical value/aspect to the trees
• whether they are visible to the wider community
• whether they are good specimens in their own right
• what dangers there are to their health and existence

The Tree Council has yet to write it's own submission, but here are our key points:

• They are a significant and complementary pair of trees, an iconic European tree, the Oak, and an iconic native tree, the Pohutukawa, which have grown up together over the past 80 years or so.

• They are large and good examples of their tree type, in good form and health.

• They are standing on prominent site on the corner with Rosebank Road and the new Jomac Place, leading into the new business park currently being developed. They sit opposite a residential part of Rosebank Road, and the junction with the residential area of Mead Street, thus providing great visibility to the neighbourhood, local workforce and passersby, and presenting themselves as a significant landmark.

• They are the only remaining vegetation on a 25 acre development site, with no vegetation of any significance in the surrounding area.

• They are worthy of being viewed not solely as the private property of the owner, as they are of enormous heritage and amenity value to local residents and the wider community, including the business district.

• The covenant on the Oak, proposed by the developer, contains conditions which allow for trimming of its roots within the drip line, and the building of accessways and carparking within the rootzone, something which arborists have confirmed will shorten the life of the Oak. The impression that the covenant is a protection is therefore deceptive. Scheduling will give the Oak greater protection.

• The site is of social and historical significance. It is the last remnant of when the peninsula was a flourishing market garden area before the land was rezoned for industrial use in the late 50s, amidst much opposition. In fact it is the last remaining market garden site in the Auckland City area, and these trees were planted by the Connell family, a well known market garden family, who finally sold the site to John McKearney less than 2 years ago. During the recent survey of local residents carried out while collecting signatures for the petition, many families told stories of their connections with the market garden days and their links with the Connell Family. More on the market garden heritage can be found in section 4.5 of our submission against the developer's recent application to fell the Pohutukawa (thanks to Avondale Waterview Historical Society).

• From 1st January 2012, unless there is a change of heart, or a change in government, and unless these trees are scheduled, there will be no other form of protection allowed under the RMA, and no permission will be needed to fell or damage either tree.

See here for site plans and images of what the site could look like to make the most of the trees.

Application to fell the Pohutukawa versus Plan Change to Schedule the Oak and the Pohutukawa
As this is a public plan change, the RMA allows for the Council to grant temporary scheduled tree protection to these trees from the date of the notification until the outcome of the hearing. This places the developer, John McKearney's, current application to fell the Pohutukawa (made just before the City Development Committee's decision to schedule the trees), in a peculiar situation. It will be interesting to see how the authorities sort out its status. We are awaiting news of the date of this hearing. The Tree Council's submission was delivered on the deadline of 16th August.

Meanwhile, we hope that as many people as possible will be able to write a submission, however small, supporting Auckland City Council's proposal to schedule both the Oak and the Pohukukawa.

THANKS VERY MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT FOR THESE TREES AND THE REASONS WHY THEY SHOULD BE PROTECTED.

Please contact us if you have any queries and/or want any further information.

Sigrid Shayer, Chair, The Tree Council, 09 828 3727; thetreecouncil@ihug.co.nz