Albermarle Street, Kensington was identified for priority tree renewal works after several tree branches fell on private property.

An independent arborist assessed all trees on the street and determined than nine trees required removal in the short term and all remaining trees were performing poorly.

We began community consultation to get an understanding of whether local residents would prefer the trees to be removed gradually or all at once. Additionally we wanted to know what residents preferred for tree replacement species.

The community consultation ran from Monday 4 July until Monday 25 July.

A letter was sent to all owners and occupiers on the street.

An online survey was open during this time which sought to understand community preference on tree removals and replacement species characteristics.

Two on-site pop-up information sessions were held where local residents were able to ask questions to our Council arborist.

The majority of responses supported the option to remove and replace all trees on the street at once, resulting in an entire streetscape replacement. This approach will provide uniform growth and consistent landscape character and less disruption to the street.

Feedback we received supported this option for the following reasons:

• It provides a uniform approach.
• The trees will be similar age and size.
• It would cause less disruption to the street.
• Allows for consistent management of the tree population.

Other results included majority support for the follow tree characteristics:

• evergreen
• native
• medium-sized.

This survey feedback will directly inform tree replacement on Albermarle Street.

As requested by the community we will remove all trees on the street at the same time. We will schedule tree replacement to occur in the following weeks after trees have been removed.

Additionally we will select a tree species that is medium sized, evergreen and native in line with community preference.

We will provide an update shortly with the replacement tree species as well as tree removal and replacement dates.