COMMENT
Just 19 residents with houses abutting the Bay Trail West in Altona Meadows have managed to convince Hobson Bay Council to dig out 160 recently planted trees along the barren, windswept trail, used by thousands of riders and walkers each year.
The trees, planted to benefit the environment and provide shade, shelter and beauty to walkers and bike riders along the trail, apparently will compromise the views of residents when the trees are fully grown.
The City of Hobsons Bay had planted 320 yellow box (eucalyptus melliodora) last year along the Bay Trail and Skeleton Creek.
This planting project is a continuation of a row of similar trees, which were planted further west along the Skeleton Creek Trail during 2020 and 2021 and generated positive feedback during consultation.
Forty-two of the trees were vandalised in February this year, the same month as the council received a petition to remove them.
According to the Council, there were requests from the community to extend the row of trees further along the trail, towards the 100 Steps in Truganina Park.
The plantings are part of the council’s Urban Forest Strategy and will buffer the nearby Cheetham Wetlands, which are protected under the international Ramsar Convention, and will benefit shorebird populations.
In making its decision to remove every second tree — in a 4-2 decision on 9 May — the council appears to have paid no heed to the people who actually use the path, nor of Parks Victoria, who owns the land on which the trees are planted.
Council officers informed the meeting that under law the residents had no "right" to views.
This shameful episode reflects poorly on Hobson Bay Council and needs to be reversed.