Attitude criticised

I AM concerned that Mandurah City Council views the trimming of trees on Old Coast Road in Dawesville as ‘vandalism’

Councillor Peter Rogers is to be commended for seeking the views of residents.

I am not a resident of Balingup Loop or Old Coast Road but I am sure that these ratepayers would much prefer to trim the trees neatly and take the trimmings to the tip than leave them in an unsightly heap onsite.

I think the council’s attitude in leaving this material onsite apparently to ‘teach the vandals a lesson’ is both childish and spiteful.

I must confess that I do not understand the ‘greenie’ tendencies of council at all.

Surely, rather than carrying on a vendetta with these residents (and ratepayers), who after all help to pay the wages of council employees, it would be better to plant shrubs that would not need constant trimming.

I would go further and suggest that perhaps large trees such as peppermints, tuarts and banksias are no longer suitable as roadside trees since a vehicle crashing into any of these would almost certainly result in a fatality.

That this report was compiled at all shows clearly that council has forgotten it is there to serve the community. It is not the community’s role to serve it.

If there is conflict between council and residents, the residents’ will must prevail however much it upsets councillors.

The intention of council to replant these trees is a travesty of what councils are elected to do.

PETER WHITE, Wannanup