By BRIDGET COOK
THE City of Casey will come up with a tree planting scheme for a Doveton road after residents raised concern over the state of the current trees.
Councillor Damien Rosario raised alarm over the state of the trees along Power Road at last week’s council meeting after he was contacted by a local resident.
Councillors resolved to investigate the current street trees along the road and come up with a long term planting scheme in consultation with local residents.
Cr Rosario said something needed to be done about the trees currently there, as they were not aligned with the rest of Casey.
“Power Road is a long and established road,” he said.
“I recently went down there to speak to a resident about the trees in the area.
“What we discovered is the trees there are not aligned with the council’s policy to trees.
“There are old trees, rotting trees, big trees and small trees.
“I’m worried about the state of some of the trees as well and want to highlight it so we can see the best way to find a solution.
“We could call this a beautification project, too.”
Cr Rosario said since last week the council had already taken some immediate action, while the longer-term plan would be mapped out.
“Short term corrective actions have immediately been undertaken to address some of the issues such as trimming back of tree branches,” he said.
Power Road resident Lawrie Aldersea said he was glad the council would be taking action.
“These trees were planted 40-odd years ago,” he said.
“They have outgrown themselves and are leaning out over the road and some of the branches are rotten.
“They could drop off at any time and go through a car windscreen.
“When trucks come down here as well they have to drive on the white line in the middle so they don’t hit the trees.”
Mr Aldersea said he would like to see small shrubs planted there instead.
“That way residents can see down the road when they are reversing out of their driveway,” he said.
“There are a lot of trees and a lot of work will be involved to fix it up, but at least the council is taking a step in the right direction.”
