![\"City](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/94c4969b5552f683dbc3702c34caafd70fb6bc1b.jpg\")
Camera IconCity officers recommended the trees remain but the council 4-3 to remove them. Credit: Sophie Gannon<\/p>\nThe City of South Perth council has ignored a staff recommendation to keep six trees recently planted near Lake Douglas after locals complained they would obstruct expensive views of the Perth CBD.<\/p>\n
The trees were planted in winter 2024 but on Tuesday night the council voted 4-3 to remove them.<\/p>\n
Nic Coveney put forward the proposal after residents complained that the trees would grow to heights that would obstruct \u201cmillion-dollar views\u201d.<\/p>\n
The council will put aside $30,000 in its mid-year budget to plant 130sqm of shrub nearby to make up for the canopy cover.<\/p>\n
It will also work on a policy for planting trees on public land.<\/p>\n
Camera IconCity officers recommended the trees remain but the council 4-3 to remove them. Credit: Sophie Gannon<\/p>\n
Crs Andre Brender-A-Brandis and Jennifer Nevard and mayor Greg Milner voted against the trees being removed.<\/p>\n
Cr Coveney said the land behind Lake Douglas was not used by the wider community other than the footpath, which was not close to shade.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve worked tirelessly to come up with what I believe is a reasonable and workable solution, not just for the impacted residents but for urban greening and wildlife,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI agree that the fauna and flora of the Lake Douglas wetlands ought to be promoted and expanded. But what is not in that plan is the types of flora to be planted and where precisely they be located.<\/p>\n
\u201cTurtles come up from Lake Douglas to the residents\u2019 fences each year. More trees (here) have meant more birds but less turtles because the birds are eating them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cr Coveney said that he had proposed moving the trees or using smaller trees but they had not been accepted by city staff.<\/p>\n
He said that in 2024 the city spent $25,000 removing 40 trees planted on public land in Karawara that were claimed to be obstructing views.<\/p>\n
Deputy mayor Bronwyn Waugh said that it would be inconsistent to now dismiss similar concerns because of the location and those who live nearby.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis situation deserves the same courtesy,\u201d she said. \u201cThe environment is dynamic and so to is our planning responses.<\/p>\n
\u201cTrees can and should be removed, replaced or redesigned in line with science, good design and community needs, not just for principle sake.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Milner said that the proposal was in direct contravention of the city\u2019s current urban greening strategy.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt also undermines the City of South Perth\u2019s foreshore strategy and management plan,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The City of South Perth council has ignored a staff recommendation to keep six trees recently planted near…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17496,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[64,63,505,75,135,44,46,84,128,18607,45],"class_list":{"0":"post-17495","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-central","11":"tag-environment","12":"tag-local-government","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-perth","15":"tag-politics","16":"tag-science","17":"tag-southern","18":"tag-wa-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}