Tree protection in Glen Eira

We asked

We have less public open space per capita than any other inner Melbourne local government area. Our parks and greenery are precious and highly valued for their contribution to public health and the environment.

With a rising population and continuing changes to local neighbourhoods, we asked you if we should introduce measures to protect trees. Using the Have Your Say platform and drawing on Community Voice, we called for input on the development and implementation of a Classified Tree Register.

You said

We completed two rounds of community consultation on this topic. The first was a municipal-wide consultation in November and December 2017, which received 130 submissions. The second was through Glen Eira Community Voice in June 2018, which received 258 submissions.

In these consultations, you told us that:

• we should protect trees in Glen Eira, including those on private and public land
• there are many attributes that make a tree worthy of protection, including the rarity of its species
• any future appeals process to deal with differences of opinion on tree management needs careful consideration. It also needs a broad range of criteria, a platform for different views and transparency.

We did

We analysed your feedback and prepared a report for presentation to Council on 26 September 2018. At this meeting, we committed to developing:

• controls to protect trees, including on private land
• a set of objectives for a tree protection approach, drawn from your priorities
• a report presenting options for controls to best protect trees.