Auckland local board member arrested while protesting Western Springs tree felling

Friday, 16 April 2021

An Auckland politician has been arrested while protesting the felling of pine trees at a local park.

Sarah Trotman, an elected member of the Waitematā Local Board, went to Western Springs on Friday morning to support a 72-year-old woman, Linda Hill, who had climbed atop a digger.

Trotman used her one phone call to inform Stuff of her arrest shortly before midday on Friday.

Police confirmed three people had been arrested at Western Springs for trespassing.

Sarah Trotman in her pyjamas, atop a digger at Western Springs on Friday morning.

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Waitematā Local Board member Sarah Trotman was arrested on Friday. (File photo)

“An elderly person shouldn’t be up there,” Trotman said in her phone call.

Felling of trees at Western Springs begun on Monday and protestors have been occupying the area in attempts to stop it. (File photo)

“We have been played by the Auckland Council for 18 months.”

In an interview on Wednesday, Trotman said the council was showing “disrespect” to the community over the felling of the trees.

They are now feeling “disgusted and betrayed at the wheel”, she said.

The local board, with the exception of Trotman, voted in 2020 to fell the 95-year-old pines at Western Springs.

They have been closed off to the public since 2018 due to safety risks resulting from falling trees.

Nearly 200 pines will be chopped and native trees including kauri, pūriri, taraire and tānekahe will be planted in their place.

But critics have argued it will “completely change the structure of the forest”, and native trees will dry out without the canopy.

Activist Steve Abel earlier said the “character and ecology of this forest should be respected”.

Earlier in the week, four people were arrested during a protest at the park.

Auckland Council’s director of customer and community services Dr Claudia Wyss said most of the pine trees are either dead or dying.

They need to be removed as they are in falling distance of Western Springs Stadium and Auckland Zoo, as well as publicly-accessible areas of the park and private properties, she said.

Up to 8000 native trees and shrubs will be planted in their place.

“While we respect the right for everyone to express their views, and the views of their community, we ask that they please do so in a way that doesn’t risk their own safety, the safety of the public, or cause damage to property.”