Tree massacre at Karrinyup Shopping Centre

Nearly every tree along both the Eastern and Northern boundaries of the Karrinyup Shopping Centre has been chopped down.  The trees have been removed to make way for a seven storey apartment building complex that is to be crammed into the site, right up to the street.  Many local residents are extremely upset about the loss of trees and the size and scale of the development.

Davenport Street (Northern boundary) Karrinyup Shopping Centre after tree removal.

Below is an image of Davenport Street before the trees were removed.  You really have to feel for the people living in the homes opposite.

Davenport Street before tree removal

These trees provide a lot of shade in summer and screened the commercial buildings behind.  They had a high amenity value.

The Davenport Street trees shading the property from hot afternoon sun last summer.

This tree below on the City of Stirling Library site has also been removed.

Karrinyup Library before tree removal.

Tree removed from the Karrinyup Library.

The City of Stirling has refused for years to inform the public what it is doing with the Karrinyup public library and community centre?  Will it be sold to the developers? This tree removal isn’t a good sign.

Questions are also being raised about the new asphalt foot path, which now runs on the roads edge.  What happened to the Council’s verge which is public land?  Was it sold to the developers?

Looking West down Davenport Street. New black asphalt pavement on the roads edge.

Court yard tree gone.

This destructive Tabula Rasa approach to development sites is greedy barbarianism.  In more civilized places, efforts are being made to build around existing trees.  But it is cheaper and quicker to cut them down, even though the result are so much nicer if they are retained.

Shame on our planning authorities. They are failing our communities.  They should be demanding setbacks and providing developers with orders to retain these mature shade trees.  It is all about maximising developer profits with no consideration what so ever for the Urban Heat Island Effect and community health and wellbeing.  Ironically, studies also show that green trees also attract shoppers.

Town Planners know that shady pathways encourage people to get out and walk and cycle.  It is well established that trees and green leafy environments are good for public health.  So why is the State Government over riding Local Governments and communities and allowing our urban forest to be destroyed? One can only assume that they care more about developers than they do about people.

Many local residents are extremely upset about this tree removal.   Redevelopment is one thing, but greedy over-development is another.  This is a failure of urban planning and failure of Governance.  Little wonder community groups across WA are calling for a Royal Commission into WA planning and banning political donations from developers.

Naturally, the developers (AMP Capital) say they will plant new trees. But if their plans are anything to go by there wont be as many.  Developers these days tend to plant smaller species and a lot foreign deciduous trees that drop their leaves and look dead for half the year adding nothing to the quality of the amenity during that time.

We asked the City of Stirling back in August (2018) for the developers landscaping plans and planting list, but the City said the had asked for it themselves but had not received one.

Huge Ficus tree incorporated in the refurbishment design of the Westfield Miranda Shopping Centre in the suburb of Miranda in Southern Sydney back in 2014.