Hacked off

A PAKENHAM resident believes a Cardinia Shire Council decision to prune trees in Tyrone Avenue has devalued his house and ruined the look of the street.
Phil Kennedy has lived in the Fallingwater estate for one and half years and on Thursday of last week, he looked out his window to see contractors carrying out the council’s work to prune back the trees on the footpath.
The trees are six feet high and Mr Kennedy said he was “very angry” that the council had pruned them back so much.
“The trees are damaged,” he said.
“I am talking to a lawyer about it, whether something can be done to force them to restore the trees.
“They have been destroyed and I am furious, I bought a house in a nice street in this estate.”
Mr Kennedy said he had spoken to a number of other residents in the street who were also unhappy with the contractor’s work.
“One of them wasn’t unhappy, they wanted the trees pruned but not that much,” he said.
“They have taken away two thirds of the tree, and it looks bloody awful.
“It devalues my house and destroys the environment of the street.”
Some of the trees on the street were left untouched after residents intervened and asked the contractors to leave. Mr Kennedy said one of the residents on the street has a son who is a project landscaper, and he believed the trees had been over-pruned.
“There are still some on the street that haven’t been pruned and I can see a big difference,” he said.
“They have never been pruned before.”
The council’s open space co-ordinator Mark Reynolds said the council was committed to managing its tree population throughout the shire.
He said keeping the trees healthy and reducing any safety hazards is a priority.
“Council’s trained contractors are pruning trees along Tyrone Avenue, Pakenham, because of requests received by residents due to poor visibility when exiting their driveways,” Mr Reynolds said.
“The council also has safety concerns about the branches growing out over the road and footpath and causing issues with pedestrian safety.
“The trees were assessed by the council’s arborist prior to and after the pruning.”
Mr Reynolds said the pruning involved uplifting the canopy of the small trees and it was a common practice for nature strip trees and met Australian Standards.