The Tree Council is very dismayed but not surprised that Auckland City’s majority Citizens and Ratepayers councillors voted down a proposal to invite Aucklanders to put forward trees for scheduling.

The Tree Council’s Chairperson, Sigrid Shayer, said, “Auckland’s action is just not good enough.  If the Environment Minister Nick Smith does not step in to force the Council to be proactive in scheduling trees, as he promised he would, then we will really know what a foolish charade this government is playing.”  

“All the Council is doing is catching up with the backlog of requests for scheduling from the past, and that backlog is only there because of the Council’s lack of interest.  If someone wants to put forward a tree now for scheduling they will be forced to go through a private plan change for the cost of at least $2,000. “

“There needs to be a concerted focus on how to use local government and central government powers to minimise the damage to our tree cover from the increasing development pressure on our land.  More and more cities in the world already have a larger array of tree protection measures, including general tree protection rules, than we will have from 1 Jan 2012. “

For further information please contact Sigrid Shayer, Chair, 835 2130 (day) or 021 058 2812 or Hueline Massey, Field Officer, 09 425 9246 or 021 150 3385

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