Trees around Brisbane have been hacked by Energex contractors, leaving them looking worse for wear and struggling to survive.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
On Tuesday, Brisbane lord mayor Graham Quirk said his council had received several complaints recently about the "hacking of trees" on Brisbane City Council streets while Energex was undertaking emergency or maintenance work.
"Council has heard of a number of situations where the management of council trees by Energex contractors has been excessive to the point it risks the integrity of some of those trees," he said.
"While council isn’t aware of the exact number of cases where this has occurred we are aware there have been significant cases in Inala, Hendra, Holland Park West, Chermside and The Gap."
Cr Quirk said some of the pruning was so excessive the tree gave limited amenity value and would struggle to survive.
"Council officers estimate the rate of excessive pruning has become problematic in the last three months, however, some councillors have stated this has been ongoing for longer than that," he said.
A meeting between the council and Energex was moved forward to Friday, where some new guidelines were set to try to stop the excessive pruning.
Cr Quirk said Energex would send the council its 12-month pruning program, work closely with the council to ensure the level of pruning was appropriate and agreed upon and also notify the council when urgent pruning works were undertaken.
An Energex spokesman said it had a comprehensive vegetation maintenance program to reduce the number of power interruptions caused by trees and their branches coming into contact with electricity infrastructure.
"The program includes the trimming of vegetation and, where required, the removal of vegetation that has the potential to contact the power network causing safety and outage issues," he said.
"All work is carried out by trained and certified vegetation management contractors.
"Most recently, Energex met with Brisbane City Council to discuss existing and future vegetation trimming requirements including mutual assistance with removal and replacement of inappropriate tree species growing into the power network and rapid responses to related safety issues.
"Energex and Council are continuing to work closely as per our longstanding memorandum of understanding to ensure vegetation management occurs in a timely manner for the safety and security of Brisbane City’s power supply."
