Carlisle business worried about Town of Victoria Park giving away free mulch

A CARLISLE business is worried it might have to close following the Town of Victoria Park’s decision to give away free mulch.

After trees were cut down at Lathlain Park to make way for the West Coast Eagles, the council gave away about 500 cubic metres of mulch.

As a result, Carlisle Soilyard has not sold any mulch in the past two weeks.

Business owner Tracy Seery said she and her husband Peter were mortified when they learnt about the Council’s plan.

“It takes away any profit we would have at this time of year; the mulch they gave away would pretty much match what we’d sell for the year,” she said.

“Usually we are packed at this time of year.

“But I estimate it’s cost us about $10,000 because that was our sales during September last year.

“I’d say about 99 per cent of our sales are from August to October but we haven’t had a sale in two weeks.

“I can’t blame people for picking up the mulch for free but for us it won’t just impact us for this year but for the years to come because they have got their mulch sorted so we are worried about the future.

“I don’t think they thought about a small business like ours. There was no consideration for us.”

Town of Victoria Park chief executive officer Anthony Vuleta said the council acknowledged the tree removal at Lathlain Park was upsetting for some in the community, and giving out the mulch from the trees was “a positive step of goodwill”.

“The Town received largely positive feedback about the mulch on social media and the fact there is hardly any left shows that,” he said.

“The Town can sympathise with any business affected by this but this was about repurposing the trees from Lathlain and giving back to the community as a whole.”