The article below was my Mitcham Community News Segment for June 2024
My April article focused on footpaths and generated a number of responses from local residents. Firstly, as promised previously, some information on why Council uses brick pavers over asphalt or other surfaces. An assessment many years ago looked at different footpath options in Mitcham and concluded pavers were preferred for two key reasons:
Pavers have a longer asset life - 40 years compared to 25 for asphalt.
Isolated defects are significantly easier to fix for pavers compared with asphalt, especially towards to end of the asset’s life.
With construction costs for asphalt paths now on par with pavers, this makes pavers the more economical path choice over the life of the asset.
One of the points commonly raised was the need for proactive, rather than reactive footpath maintenance across the Council. The current process relies on residents reporting tripping hazards, overgrown vegetation etc. It is clear that most people are not aware of this, and it isn’t a process in my opinion that meets community expectations.
For residents in Hawthorndene, Council is set to begin consultation on an area study for new footpath locations. We are keen to hear from the community how informal links are used and can be integrated into the existing footpath network. I would really encourage people to have a say via the YourSay Mitcham website or attend one of the pop-up sessions planned for later this month.
Hopefully this work will create a targeted plan for linking up the existing network (e.g. Why do the footpaths stop before they hit Myrtle Road at Darwin and Pasteur Avenue?) and highlight the extensive although underutilised laneways throughout Hawthorndene, such as the connection between Gorse and Watahuna where the kerb isn’t friendly for bikes or wheelchairs.
Tree Law Changes
Finally, after years of community campaigning, the State Government implemented better protections for trees on Friday, 17 May. Cr Well’s article covers these changes in more detail. Sadly, there are no changes yet to the 20m clearance exemption which has unnecessarily decimated significant amounts of tree canopy in the hills. Removal of this exemption has been a
focus of mine since 2017. The recent Bushfire Hazards Code Amendment that the State Government consulted on proposed reducing the 20m rule down to 10m of tree clearance around dwellings. This would at least bring us closer in line with what occurs interstate and can’t come soon enough.
While the City of Mitcham’s tree canopy increased by 7.45% between 2018 to 2022, most of this canopy gain is thanks to our existing established trees having favourable growing conditions and being able to out-grow the loss of tree canopy. When you look at the % of canopy provided by new trees, compared with the loss of established tree canopy, this ‘new tree’ canopy growth does not come close to offsetting canopy loss and highlights the critical importance of retaining the trees that we have now.
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