Fines totalling $69,000 have been handed out for tree offences in Wollongong over the past three months – but none have gone to vandals who poison or maim trees on public land.
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Wollongong City Council (WCC) said it had slapped the fines on nine people caught performing unauthorised tree removal or lopping. One person got two infringement notices.
All of the cases were for offences on private land – none of the fines were handed out to the vandals who have become increasingly bold in poisoning or chopping down trees near waterside suburbs.
The 10 incidents of unauthorised tree removal or lopping came from 28 reports to WCC, with 12 matters still being investigated, a council spokeswoman said.
The fines were handed out for incidents across the Wollongong area, including Helensburgh, Coalcliff, Keiraville, Mangerton, Figtree, Port Kembla, Lake Heights and Dapto.
A WCC spokeswoman urged people with information on tree vandalism to call council on 42277111.
“We are aware our community is concerned about tree poisoning and the removal of trees on public land,” she said.
“The issues of tree poisoning and the removal of trees on public land can challenging for council to prosecute as we require enough evidence to do so successfully.
“We assure community members your information will be sensitively handled.”
Wollongong’s tree management policy requires permission from council before any tree higher or wider than 3m is removed. This costs $74 per tree. Some trees are also subject to special protections, while some bushfire zones allow the removal of trees close to houses as per the 10/50 rule.
The council is developing a new public tree management policy, and a tree vandalism policy, both of which are out for public consultation.
The council says its new tree policies will bring “consistency” to how the organisation approaches tree vandalism cases.
Vandalism assessed as medium or high impact would be met with letterbox drops in the neighbourhood, warning signs and potential court action.
Council’s approach would be to not “reward” the vandal by removing the tree, but rather leave the dead tree in place if safe, and replant trees there.
High impact tree vandalism would lead to covert surveillance cameras being installed in the area.
Under the new policy, barriers such as bunting or shade cloth could be erected to block views in place of trees that had been destroyed. But the policy says this would need a special resolution of council to occur.