Environmentalists are raising the alarm over a plan to remove 500 trees from a development adjacent to a national park in Sydney’s north-west.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Developer ISPT is planning a data centre on an industrial plot of land in North Ryde, which backs onto Lane Cove National Park.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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At least 200 trees slated for removal are trees that have regrown after the site was cleared in 2009. (ABC Radio Sydney: Declan Bowring)<\/p>\n
The site was cleared in 2009 for a development that never went ahead.\u00a0<\/p>\n
About 200 of the trees that have been slated for removal are ones that grew back in the previously cleared area.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Local conservationists said many of the other 300 were mature trees that provided hollows for birds and animals.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“They take 100 years or more to develop,” Friends of Lane Cove National Park president Tony Butteris told 702 ABC Radio Sydney.<\/p>\n
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Tony Butteris says many of the mature trees provide hollows for wildlife. (ABC Radio Sydney: Declan Bowring)<\/p>\n
“They’re important because they are right next to the park and it’s a habitat corridor.<\/p>\n
“What we’re saying is let’s look at it again. You can still get the development there without taking so many trees out.”<\/p>\n
ISPT claims to have been the first property company to become carbon neutral in 2020.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the company said in a statement that it would be offsetting the tree removal by planting 750 new native Australian trees.<\/p>\n
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The data centre is proposed at a site in North Ryde in Sydney’s north-west. (ABC Radio Sydney: Declan Bowring)<\/p>\n
The company also said it would be providing access walkways and viewing platforms to the national park.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“While we are always reluctant to remove existing flora \u2026 we will be implementing an offset tree re-planting program,” the spokesperson said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Our proposal provides investment in critical digital infrastructure while minimising the impact to the surrounding area.”<\/p>\n
The site backs onto Lane Cove National Park, which includes part of the Great North Walk trail. (ABC Radio Sydney: Declan Bowring)<\/p>\n
The spokesperson said the company was willing to consult with the Friends of Lane Cove National Park to discuss their concerns.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, Mr Butteris said new trees would not have the same value as the old trees on the site.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Environmentalists say new offset trees will not provide the hollows that existing mature trees in the area do. (ABC Radio Sydney: Declan Bowring)<\/p>\n
“‘Pull them down and plant another sapling over the way’ doesn’t really do the trick,” Mr Butteris said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The data centre has been assessed as a state-significant development by the state’s planning department.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Environmentalists are raising the alarm over a plan to remove 500 trees from a development adjacent to a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67141,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[64,63,53398,53397,75,53401,53399,53396,53400,128],"class_list":["post-67140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-data-center-trees","tag-data-centre-tree-plan","tag-environment","tag-ispt","tag-julius-avenue-data-center","tag-lane-cove-national-park-trees","tag-macquarie-park-data-center","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67140","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=67140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67140\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}