Council agrees to protect more notable trees in Auckland
Thursday, 11 August 2022
More of Auckland’s heritage trees will have protection with Auckland Council’s Planning Committee deciding to add further trees to its Schedule 10 for Notable Trees in the upcoming notification of the August 2022 Unitary Plan change.
The decision made on August 4 includes council adding 24 individual trees and four groups of trees to the list of Notable Trees, removing 51 from the list that are either no longer present or where their health has “deteriorated considerably”, and amending 64 inaccurate or inconsistent listings.
The committee also approved the addition of a clause to ensure the continued protection of notable trees when a site is subdivided.
The decision follows an out-of-court settlement between Auckland Council and The Tree Council Inc. following a judicial review of Auckland Council’s November 2020 decision not to allocate resources to the management of Notable Trees.
**READ MORE:
* Auckland Council begins tree protection assessments as judicial review looms
* Pōhutukawa back under official protection after being accidentally dropped off list
* Auckland Council taken to court over protection rules putting almost 600 trees at risk
* Auckland losing 1000 trees a week, properties 'worth more if you bulldoze'
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Auckland Council has received 125 notable tree nominations since November 2020 and The Tree Council is calling on the public to inform it of where large and special trees are on private land in Auckland, so they can be assessed and nominated for inclusion in future plan changes.
Such trees are threatened by urban intensification that will be accelerating over the next few years across the region, The Tree Council states.
The Tree Council is also calling for professional arborists and ecologists to help with undertaking assessments.
“The more assessments we can do now, the more of Auckland's important trees we can get nominated and scheduled,” The Tree Council states.