Tree battle heats up
The Bunbury City Council has taken charge of a controversial plan from the Bunbury Primary School to alter Lovegrove Avenue into a one-way street and remove decades-old Japanese pepper trees.
The school’s proposal focused on easing traffic congestion, alleviating drainage problems and improving the safety of students.
Lovegrove Avenue and its laneways were to be converted into a one-way street as well as creating 14 new parking bays and a pedestrian crossing.
But Mayor Gary Brennan said he asked city officers to develop a compromise engineering solution to be presented to the school and the Friends of Lovegrove group on March 24.
The council took control of the plan after a breakdown in the joint meetings between the council, the school and residents group.
The school refused to take part after the third meeting because of “frustration” from a lack of concession from Lovegrove residents.
Their frustration was detailed in an email sent from the school to other stakeholders late last month.
“The current process is delaying an inevitable council decision and risking valuable Government funding, ” the email stated.
Bunbury Primary School principal Shane Doherty told the Times it was his job to make sure students were safe at his school.
“We need to provide safer pedestrian access for parents and their children during the busy pick up and drop off times, ” he said.
“There are ongoing safety concerns for people walking and driving around the school that need to be resolved urgently.
“For this to happen, a final proposal needs to be presented to council that addresses the identified concerns.
“The City of Bunbury is currently working toward the best solution before it will be sent to the council for a decision.”
Friends of Lovegrove spokesman Daniel Johnston said the group had always wanted to be involved in the consultation of the school’s proposal.
Mr Johnston said the group still had concerns about the removal of the pepper trees and the proposed one-way traffic flow on Lovegrove Avenue.
“Our issue really is we can’t understand how it ever got to a stage that three years work was done (by the school) without taking our views into account, ” he said.
