At last week’s Council meeting, the Guardians’ request for a grant to carry out more arborist work on the Avenue was met with questions from some councillors as to whether the Guardians sought authorisation to work on trees and whether the work was covered by insurance.

Brenda Doney from the Community Guardians said the Council was well aware of impending arborist work being carried out on the Avenue, given they defeated a motion to contribute to the work at a previous council meeting.

The grant obtained by the Guardians from the Premier’s Department to carry out arborist work on the Avenue was also widely reported in the press, on the radio and in the Oberon Review.

Mrs Doney also said that the arborist who was employed to work on the Avenue was the same arborist that Oberon Council uses, and therefore his insurance meets council requirements.

“The arborist contacted council before commencing work on the Avenue,” she said.

Mrs Doney said in the past the Guardians had found themselves caught between the Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) and council shifting responsibility between themselves.

“Because of the controversy over the Avenue’s future, there has always been dispute over who has responsibility for the trees. The council has followed a path of inaction in maintenance and preservation of the Avenue, while waiting for the RTA to act, while at the same time lobbying the RTA to remove the trees,” she said.

Mrs Doney said the Guardians were very excited with the Council’s new attitude to the Avenue.

This change of attitude was apparent at the last council meeting when councillors declared that the trees were the responsibility of and owned by council.

Mrs Doney also said the Guardians were very pleased about council’s new support for maintaining the Avenue, after they agreed at the Council meeting to support a grant in principle once the issue of permission and insurance was cleared up.