“It’s a bit like being a member of the opposition,” Mrs Moran said.

“I can say things people want to hear, without putting my name to the unpopular decisions, and then have to pay for it at the next election. I guess that’s democracy.”

Mrs Moran said she had been anxious to speak to Mayor Paul Harmon and senior council staff, but it had not eventuated. 

“These are just a few of my questions,” Mrs Moran said.

“Firstly, is council still planning on planting Pin Oaks in the central median strips? If council decides to remove the trees, will they be replaced by Pistachio and Chanticleer Pears where they have been removed at each site? Thirdly, if the council removes a plane tree, will they be replanting it elsewhere in town as indicated by the TCRP?”

Mrs Moran said she had read Mark Hartley’s tree report, and the peer review on that report, subsequently carried out by arborist Roy Cody, and could not argue with any of their points.

“Yes, the trees damage infrastructure, drop leaves and not mentioned by the arborists, are home for morning birds that roost at night and make a nest,” Mrs Moran said.

“However, one thing I wasn’t sure about was the terms ‘long-term’ and ‘short-term’.”

Mrs Moran said they were relative terms that varied greatly in time depending on what was being discussed.

“I saw Hartley say the short term was actually 10 to 20 years,” Mrs Moran said.

“No-one in CIRA suggests that these beds would last for the long-term. Could that be 20 to 50 years? I’m not sure. But I for one am not suggesting we currently ignore the cost impost that particular trees may be imposing.”

Mrs Moran said it came back to how much the community loved its plane trees, and how much they were prepared to pay for them.