{"id":54474,"date":"2025-08-09T07:17:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T07:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/54474\/"},"modified":"2025-08-09T07:17:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T07:17:11","slug":"aquinas-college-tennis-court-plans-to-remove-33-trees-described-as-sickening-and-unacceptable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/54474\/","title":{"rendered":"Aquinas College: Tennis court plans to remove 33 trees described as \u2018sickening and unacceptable\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

More trees are facing the chop in Perth\u2019s southern suburbs under plans by Aquinas College to build 12 new tennis courts.<\/p>\n

The tennis court development is part of a $25 million project for a new recital hall and music centre, hockey building, tennis courts and a university facility which was approved by the Metro Inner Development Assessment panel last October.<\/p>\n

The college\u2019s existing tennis courts will be relocated and replaced, while the school\u2019s northern car park will be reconfigured to create more car bays.<\/p>\n

The South Perth Tree Advocates Facebook page said the removal of the \u201csignificant area of canopy\u201d would come at a considerable cost to the school and the surrounding community \u201cin terms of loss of amenity, shade and cooling, habitat and more\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t play tennis if you can\u2019t breath and it\u2019s stinking hot,\u201d one comment said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI find this absolutely sickening and unacceptable,\u201d another added.<\/p>\n

A temperature map shared on the post showed on a summer day in the low 30s, the temperature under the trees would be significantly lower than the hard courts.<\/p>\n

\"ACamera IconA heat map showing the shade the trees provide to the area. Credit: Facebook<\/p>\n

According to the college\u2019s plans, offset planting will reflect the number of trees removed and the \u201cinitial loss of amenity and biomass\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew trees should be of long-term potential and sourced from a reputable supplier,\u201d the plans state.<\/p>\n

\u201cA replacement quota of one-to-one (minimum) for all trees proposed for removal as part of this development is recommended.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aquinas College confirmed that trees, most of which were classified as semi-mature or juvenile with limited retention value, would need to be removed to make way for their performing arts facility.<\/p>\n

Principal Robert Henderson said the \u201clandscape plan\u201d had been approved by the City of South Perth.<\/p>\n

\"TreesCamera IconTrees will need to be removed for the proposed design. Credit: ArborPlan <\/p>\n

\u201cWhile retention is always prioritised, the removal of the trees is required to facilitate the relocation of the current tennis courts to make way for the new facility,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur focus is on creating a centre of excellence that respects our precious environment, supports our students\u2019 learning and growth, and contributes meaningfully to the future of our society.\u201d<\/p>\n

An arboricultural impact assessment prepared for the college provided recommendations to protect trees on development sites. It said many of the trees being removed were introduced species and all replacement trees would suit local environmental conditions.<\/p>\n

A minimum one-to-one tree replacement policy has been adopted.<\/p>\n

Aquinas College said that they have also considered shade and sun-safety for its community, having shade infrastructure incorporated into the planning of the new tennis courts.<\/p>\n

The City of South Perth said the Metro-Inner Development Assessment Panel approved alterations and additions to Aquinas College, including carpark expansion and new tennis courts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe works required removal of trees, supported by an arboricultural report and landscape plan from the applicant.\u201d the city said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe panel approved the application, subject to a condition requiring an updated landscaping plan detailing all trees and plants to be retained or removed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More trees are facing the chop in Perth\u2019s southern suburbs under plans by Aquinas College to build 12…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":54475,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[9357,1398,50,13110,29916,101,118,56,54,55,17285],"class_list":{"0":"post-54474","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-central","9":"tag-education","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-perth","12":"tag-southern","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-tennis","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-unitedkingdom","18":"tag-wa-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}