A plan to stop tree planting in Wellington CBD has been rejected by Dubbo Regional Council.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Trees are currently being planted along Wellington's main street as part of upgrades to the CBD. However, councillor David Grant wanted the planting to be temporarily stopped and a review undertaken to ensure the trees weren't interfering with parking spaces in Nanima Cresent.
Cr Grant said businesses has contacted him, concerned about the loss of parking spaces.
"It's not about canning all the trees in the main street it's about looking at the planting and where it's going. It's a last minute discussion but it's really abut getting this right for the economics for the CBD to ensure that we can encourage people to pull in and benefit from what Wellington has to offer," the councillor said.
ALSO MAKING NEWS:
In the last six months there had been an increase in the number of caravaners and holiday-goers stopping in Wellington, Cr Grant said, boosting the town's economy. He didn't want to see them drive through to another town because they had nowhere to park.
Instead, Cr Grant wanted council to look at spreading the trees out or planting less in the main street.
The plan for upgrading the CBD was developed last year and when it was placed on public exhibition, no businesses objected to the tree planting.
Councillor Greg Mohr said it would cost a "significant amount of money" to redo that plan.
"As I understand it the trees have been purchased, the tree guards have been purchased, the roads have cut out for these trees to go in there," he said.
Cr Mohr said there had been 25 metres left between each tree, which was enough space for caravans and RVs to park.
If the work was stopped, councillor John Ryan said he was concerned it would set other dominoes in motion and delay other projects.
Council was already facing tight deadlines with a number of projects, he said.
Cr Grant was the only councillor to vote in support of the idea at the May council meeting. The tree planting will continue as originally planned.