Do we value trees in Wangaratta?

Do we see the planting of large shade giving street trees as a legacy left to us by our great town planners of the past as something we want to continue?

These two questions are no more profound this week following the photo and headline “Plane Tree no more as road rebuild continues” (Wangaratta Chronicle, January 23).

This is the first I had heard that this fabulous tree was to be removed; its pruning in November should have alerted me but it didn’t.

Was there a planning application?

So in the interests of curb and channel, road works, storm water drainage and footpaths we sacrifice a very old and beautiful plane tree in Swan Street storing 10 tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere.

Other street trees are at risk due to neglect from those of us with a nature strip tree who don’t water them but also from local government lack of care and watering.

Two huge plane trees in front of 22 and 24 Norton Street are at risk of death.

For over a year questions have been raised with the RCOW as too what has happened to these after root barriers were installed around them; no answers have been forthcoming.

Last week a dead branch fell from one of these trees.

I now await the results of an FOI to understand what has happened to them.

An Elm on the corner of Steane and Swan streets is also struggling to survive as are two more Elms on Ford Street.

Two more nature strip trees in Waratah Drive were requested to be replaced in September 2024 and were put on the list for seasonal planting.

This didn’t happen in the winter of 2025 and so a request was submitted again in 2026.

RCOW reports that a budget increase in 2024/25 saw an extra $100,000 allocated for street planting, to attempt to reach 30 per cent tree canopy for the RCOW.

This was allocated to planting in primarily industrial areas, which we can see along Tone, Parfitt, Osboldstone and other industrial roads.

The current 2025/2026 budget reverted to its previous level.

Consequently the current budget for trees has been spent on watering all those trees planted from the 2024/2025 budget.

Are they more important than residential streets?

Look at the older street plantings done some 100 years ago in Rowan, Norton, Docker, Cusack, Templeton, Chisholm, Ely and Swan streets.

Those ancient plane trees provide us with excellent tree canopy coverage and provide a vista we are proud of.

Surely we can continue this tradition and stop the removal of trees such as the one on Swan street.

There are many parts of Wangaratta which would benefit from large tree plantings such as the now filled in standard gauge rail line in front of the railway station.

We all owe a great debt to past councillors and town planners for their foresight in planting plane trees, and other large trees.

What future plan does the RCOW have to maintain our trees with climate change upon us?

Claire Russell, Wangaratta

Council performance change needs to start at top

Enquiries made into the selection process for our new CEO indicated an interview panel comprised of the mayor, deputy mayor, employment agent and another independent person.

This sounds effective with people interested in the city and experienced in the process of selecting a new CEO.

This is until you find out that the selection process eliminates candidates prior to the interviews.

Council members on the interview panel appear to be directed to candidates who meet the criteria selected by the employment agency with input from senior council staff who may have also applied for the position.

No serious change to operations and accountability can occur without a system change.

All departments across council need to improve, especially planning.

Council needs a business capable person along with a superior level of service, with background knowledge of council operations to ensure ratepayers get bang for buck in these trying times.

Our councillors need to be asking the questions with regards to the process where suitable applicants are not getting to the interview stage without their knowledge.

This city and its ratepayers can attain a level of satisfaction and reliability from council with some business-like changes to how it operates.

This will never be attained with an experienced person who specialises in local government and not private business being appointed.

Council staff need to realise that change is not always a bad thing but can bring improvement broadly for all concerned.

Who has the most to lose is yet to be seen.

Eric Douthie, Wangaratta