Town of Victoria Park Mayor Karen Vernon has issued a heartfelt public apology after an internal review revealed significant failures in tree protection during park upgrades, resulting in the unauthorised removal of 46 trees.
Park Upgrades Gone Wrong
The controversy emerged during major redevelopment works at Elizabeth Baillie Reserve in East Victoria Park, where the town is transforming the area into an amphitheatre for events, constructing a new playground and public toilets, and implementing extensive landscaping with new tree plantings.
In a statement published on Tuesday morning, Mayor Karen Vernon revealed that the town had accepted full responsibility for the tree losses after a construction review showed numerous trees were not "adequately protected" during the project.
Devastating Discovery and Response
The investigation uncovered that 65 trees in total were removed during construction, with 46 of those trees being eliminated due to systemic failures in the town's project management processes. Most concerning was that this occurred without community notification.
"Losing 65 trees during the course of construction were not planned to be removed, despite the reasons for their removal, is deeply disappointing and devastating," Mayor Vernon stated in her follow-up apology.
She expressed particular concern that "learning that 46 of those trees were removed as a result of a failure of the town's systems and processes in managing this project, and without notice to our community, is completely unacceptable."
Environmental Compensation and Investigation
To offset the environmental impact, the town has committed to an extensive replanting program that will see 94 new trees planted alongside 23,160 additional plants throughout the area.
Mayor Vernon has called for a thorough investigation into how the failures occurred, emphasising her commitment to "doing everything possible to identify the errors made by the town, who is responsible, what can be done and taking action to prevent further losses."
The town's official statement acknowledged the breach of community trust, stating: "The town deeply regrets this outcome and takes full responsibility. We pride ourselves on environmental stewardship, responsible planning and community trust. In this instance, we failed to meet these standards and we are deeply sorry."
