Perth Voice Interactive

A PRICEY tree planting program for Yokine’s Flinders Street strip will cost an estimated $6,500 per tree and comes with a traffic engineer’s warning it could be dangerous.

Flinders Street is pretty bare and back in mid-2022 ward councillors Suzanne Migdale and Joe Ferrante requested more trees along the strip. 

Nearly $200,000 was set aside to plant 31 trees along the median strip, but after a lengthy investigation some of the tree locations have proved unworkable due to nearby underground services. Now somewhere between 26 and 29 trees will be planted.

Councillors this week unanimously voted to approve the latest concept plan, despite warnings from a traffic safety engineer at Donald Veal Consultants they’d hired to review the proposal. 

Hazard

The engineering company report states, “DVC considers that the introduction of the stated species of tree within the median of Flinders Street would introduce a significant hazard, potentially affecting all road users. The strong recommendation would be that they should not be [planted]”.

But Stirling staff reckon she’ll be right, reporting to councillors: “While the City acknowledges the outcome of the engineering report it is also noted that the potential increase in risk is mitigated by the effect landscaping within streetscapes has on slowing the speed of vehicles.

“Planting trees within the median reduces the perceived width of the road reserve, this in turn reduces average speeds which in turn mitigates the risk of planting trees within the median.”

Ahead of councillors voting, Scarborough resident Simon Wheeler queried the immense cost per tree during public question time.

Mr Wheeler, who’s previously run for Coastal Ward, said, “We have to plant more trees, Mayor [Mark] Irwin, and not doing so will cost us much more in the long run. And I think council should support this item.

“But when the planting of it turns out to be less than 30 trees, it takes nearly 12 months of administrative wrangling, an external risk assessment – the outcome of which council has been advised to ignore in tonight’s report – and close to $200,000 for less than 30 trees, there’s something wrong, Mayor Irwin, there has to be a better way.”

Stirling is aiming to plant a million trees and shrubs by 2032, and Mr Wheeler noted the plan could get very expensive at this rate, somewhere between $1.5b – $5b- depending on the tree-to-shrub ratio.

“I’d like to know what measures the City will undertake to ensure that further much-needed tree planting and climate mitigation strategies can proceed in a financially sustainable manner.”

Mr Irwin acknowledged, “It’s a very expensive tree planting… when you look at them in isolation, it is an exorbitant amount.”

Mr Irwin said it was a particularly expensive area to plant in, and about $45,000 is budgeted for traffic management to close the streets during planting. Additional money was spent on sending out 550 flyers for community consultation, resulting in four responses (one in favour, three raising safety concerns).

Mr Irwin said, “It’s important that we also look at areas that have a low amenity and quite difficult plantings, and make sure that they don’t miss out just because it costs more money.”

The planting’s scheduled for winter 2024.

by DAVID BELL