Dubbo Regional councillor John Ryan has called for a committee to be formed to review the proposed replacement of trees when they have to be removed due to infrastructure projects.

The committee would be comprised of the mayor, interested councillors, council staff and four community representatives. It has been proposed to meet quarterly.

Cr Ryan said since he had been elected he had had more people speak to him about the street cover in Dubbo than all the other issues put together.

After a long period of administration where there were no community groups, Cr Ryan said it was time for a tree committee that could feed right into the decision-making process.

However, councillors David Grant and Kevin Parker disagreed with the formation of the committee. Both voted against the proposal moving ahead.

“We have staff who know a lot about trees, more about trees than a lot of the community members who are making some of these complaints. I’m not saying the community members don’t know one tree from another but I certainly don’t know what tree would be best for the city of Dubbo,” Cr Parker said.

Cr Grant said he thought the issue could be resolved by creating a new policy, rather than a committee.

Mayor Ben Shields supported the plan. He said it would reduce community angst.

“It’s long overdue to give the community ownership of this and it’s long overdue for us to get this right, both to make the city look better but also to save money. I’m sick to death of finding out ten years later that we have to rip down another lot of trees because we planted the wrong ones,” he said.

There was angst about the lack of communication around why the vegetation was being removed, Cr Shields said, as well as the suitability of the replacement trees.

A decision on Cr Ryan’s proposed committee will be made at the November council meeting on Monday.