A row of liquidambar trees in Leura which was severely overpruned last year may yet be saved.
Nine of the 41 trees in Gladstone Road were chopped by a contractor before a resident alerted council and the work was stopped. But not before the once towering hundred-year-old trees, a great tourist attraction in autumn, were reduced to a height of just three metres.
An arborist appointed by council to look at the trees recommended they be removed and replaced with a smaller growing species. He said most of them were showing signs of disease and weakness exacerbated by years of pruning to keep the trees away from power lines.
But council has rejected the recommendation and has instead been working with a committee of locals on alternative plans. Each tree will get its own pruning program.
Rod Stowe, convenor of the Gladstone Road interim precinct committee, said council hoped to let the overpruned nine trees grow back while at the same time reducing the height of the others.
"The idea is we intensively manage all of the trees with a view to bringing them back to health and some sort of uniformity of height," Mr Stowe said.
Council will forward its plan, which outlines long-term management aims, to Endeavour Energy to ensure all the parties are working together to maintain the trees.
Mr Stowe said recent discussions with council had alerted the interim committee of the need to form a permanent, well-organised group of residents to liaise with council on all issues of street management and improvement.
He pointed to a group such as Streetscape in Blackheath, which constantly confers with council about the physical amenity of the town.
A public meeting to discuss forming a new group and the plans for Gladstone Road will be held on Monday, July 1, at the Fairmont Resort, in the Misty Theatre, at 6pm. All are welcome.
