The City of Burnside has presented to the State Parliament in a landmark first that could help shape the future of tree protection laws in South Australia.
Council CEO Chris Cowley and Coordinator Environmental Sustainability Dr Philip Roetman met with the Environment, Resources and Development Committee (ERDC) at Parliament House yesterday to give a presentation on the City of Burnside’s submission to the Inquiry into the Urban Forest.
The Inquiry’s interim report, which was tabled in both the House of Assembly and Legislative Council in recent weeks, investigates Adelaide’s diminishing urban tree canopy and contains 15 recommendations to help restore it.
Earlier this year the City of Burnside made a submission to the Inquiry, making a number of recommendations that have been incorporated into the interim report. These recommendations include a significant increase in fees for legal removals and fines for illegal removals, the removal of exemptions that can be exploited via loopholes, a broadening of regulations to protect more trees and the establishment of an Urban Forest Fund.
In his presentation to the ERDC, City of Burnside CEO Chris Cowley said while councils can play a major role in protecting Adelaide’s urban forest, they needed more support from the State Government to do so.
‘We are achieving prosecution, but the work involved is substantial. We are relying heavily on residents to provide evidence, the challenge we have is finding enough – a stronger message needs to be sent,’ Mr Cowley said.
‘We are absolutely supportive of the vast majority of, if not all of the recommendations, but we think there is an opportunity for some fine tuning.
‘Streamlining of the prosecution process on multiple levels and removing ambiguity would support Councils greatly.’
