Mon, 07 Sep 2009 12:00a.m.
The legislation could be voted on as early as tomorrow
By Tony Field
The Government is being pressured to rethink a proposed law for chopping down trees.
Legislation is expected to pass this week that would remove the automatic protection councils give trees over a certain height.
The new bill has drawn many critics, with people thinking the law has gone too far.
Environmental groups are worried that it could soon be open season on trees - especially trees planted on land ripe for development.
Sigrid Shayer, of the tree council, says there are not enough guidelines surrounding the chopping law.
“There is going to be no requirement for developers to do any replacement planting, as well as giving them carte blanche to just cut everything down. There is nothing you can do,” she says.
But Key says Auckland is the only part of the country that has blanket rules protecting trees.
“In my view we won’t see the chainsaw massacre,” he says.
“Councils can protect trees and there's no evidence that policy in the rest of the country isn't working.”
The law change comes after complaints that the existing rules were too tough and were producing some bizarre results.
An Auckland couple had to spend $60,000 to win permission to remove a Himalayan cedar from their front yard and replace it with two native trees.
Environmental planning lawyer Richard Brabant says the law change is well over due.
“There was a need for a change. I think that the application of the general tree rules, as they are called in many urban areas, had become an issue and needed to be addressed,” he says.
Mr Brabant is worried the Government is now going from one extreme to the other.
“For me personally I’d like to see continued recognition by general tree protection of important, significant New Zealand native trees,” he says.
Local councils will have just over two years in which to list all the trees they believe need to be protected.
But opponents of the law change say the councils won't have the time or the money to identify all of those trees.
Ms Shayer says the property owner can contest any attempts to have their trees scheduled for protection.
“A landowner who wants to sell their land to the developers, they are not going to agree to have a tree scheduled,” she says.
The legislation could be voted on as early as tomorrow.
3 News
