PM Submission - Thomas Kearney - MCU18/0015

     Putting adollar value on trees
     News Words Sian Johnson




     Lemon-scented gums lining Fraser Avenue in King's Park in Perth. Image'
     Creative commons


     An inner-city Perth councillor wants to assign trees with a dollar value that must
     be taken into account in planning decisions, Weighted according to the trees
     economic, environmental and health benefits.

     City of Bayswater councillor Chris Cornish says that
     suburban Perth trees could be valued from io,000 up
     to around $50,000 to deter attitudes among councils
     and developers causing the loss of established trees. If a
     tree still needs to be knocked down, he believes it should
     be treated as an assett and paid for by the developer.

     Cornish, who has a background in financial planning,
     said that he was frustrated by the number of trees being
I,
     lost through development when he was elected
     to council.
                                                                        Councillor Chris Cornish wants
     "It's just too easy to say that we'll plant another one,
                                                                        to assign all trees with a dollar
     that one tree doesn't make any difference to the                   value that must be taken into
     environment — and they're right, one tree doesn't,"                account when planning
     he said.                                                           decisions are being
                                                                        made. Image: Courtesy of
     "But when you've got thousands of people saying the                Chris Cornish
     same thing then that does make a difference, and the
     only way around that is applying a dollar value."

     "People out there are deaf to the environmental benefits because they've heard it and
     beard it. So unfortunately what people seem to care about are dollars, and there are
     lots of economic benefits to trees," he said.

     Cornish listed the economic benefits of trees as increased property values, an
     extension of the life of bitumen shaded by trees, the cooling effect that occurs
     through evaporative transpiration, and the economic boost to neighbourhoods with
     improved walkability.

     "I ran for council to increase financial responsibility and sustainability, not trees.
     became educated along the way and now see trees as a critical issue," he said.


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