Urban Forest Strategy adopted by Council

One of the best things about our local area is our big and beautiful trees. They provide shade to cool our streets and homes, they clean the air, provide habitat for wildlife, and make our streets and parks look spectacular.

To address the impacts of climate change and ensure our community continues to benefit from tree canopy cover, we drafted an Urban Forest Strategy (UFS) which proposed a goal of 30% tree canopy cover by 2050.

We asked for your feedback in mid-2023 and all feedback has been reviewed and compiled a report. The report was presented at our Environmental Planning Committee meeting and Council meeting in November 2023.

The Draft Urban Forest Strategy was adopted in November 2023. View the final strategy.

Take a look at our Urban Forest Strategy open in new window

Strategic & Corporate Committee meeting

We invited the community to attend the Strategic & Corporate Committee meeting held on Monday 20 November 2023.

The Committee considered a post-exhibition report on the Draft Urban Forest Strategy, which includes a summary of issues raised during our recent community consultation. An audio recording of the meeting will be available on Council's website. by 5.00pm 21 November 2023.

  • Why do we need an Urban Forest Strategy?

    Sadly, data shows we are steadily losing our canopy of trees. Since 2010 we have lost an area just larger than Edgecliff. The loss of so many trees will make our streets and homes hotter, our local wildlife will decline, and there will be more carbon in the air. To make sure this doesn't happen, we're proposing to set a target to reach 30% tree canopy cover by 2050. If we don't act now we will have 23.8% tree canopy cover by 2050, which is less than our current canopy cover of 27.4%.

  • What is an urban forest?

    Whilst our urban forest includes all vegetation, we recognise that trees provide the greatest combination of beneficial services to our community, environment, and economy, which is why the draft Urban Forest Strategy (UFS) focuses on growing our urban tree assets. The draft UFS uses research and analysis to establish an ambitious yet achievable canopy cover target of 30% by 2050.

  • Let's work together

    We need to work together to turn this decline around and create a greener, cooler, and healthier environment for generations to come. 64% of our area is private land so we're calling on you to plant trees too - at your home, your business and school - preferably trees that are native to our area. To reach the proposed target of 30% tree canopy cover by 2050, we will need your help to plant 5,000 trees on private land.

About the draft Urban Forest Strategy

Whilst our urban forest includes all vegetation, the biggest impact we can have on the cooling and wellbeing of our local area is to plant more large trees – and protect the trees we currently have.

Our draft Urban Forest Strategy (UFS) proposes a goal to increase our tree canopy to 30% by 2050. To reach this target we need to re-think how we integrate trees into our parklands, road reserves, streets, public spaces, and private properties, maximizing all available and suitable public land.

To achieve the 30% canopy cover target we will need to plant 13,410 trees across the Council area over the next 25 years. Our research shows that Council has the capacity to plant 8,101 of these trees on public land, which is 2.5 times more than what would be planted under our current ‘business as usual’ planting rate.

Private land covers 64% of the Council area, which means we can't achieve a 30% increase in tree canopy alone, we need your help.

In addition to providing shade, cooling our streets, cleaning the air, and providing habitat for wildlife, research undertaken in Australia has found a number of health improvements in neighbourhoods with at least 30% tree canopy cover. More trees lead to:

  • Reduced psychological distress
  • Less chance of developing diabetes
  • Lower rates of cardiovascular disease
  • Lower rates of cardio hypertension

Trees also create a greener and more sustainable environment. Did you know?

  • Trees remove carbon dioxide and air pollutants. In Woollahra trees are estimated to remove 6,724kg of air pollutants per year and 166 tonnes of carbon.
  • Trees help manage stormwater when it rains. They soak up huge amounts of water through their branches, leaves and stems, and their clever root systems act as conduits, increasing the infiltration of groundwater at a rate 27 times higher than areas without trees.
  • Trees improve water quality by intercepting rainfall.

We want to plant the right trees in the right places to ensure the health and longevity of the tree and minimise disturbance to infrastructure and homes. To do this, we’re using data, including urban heat maps and canopy cover data, to select planting locations.

Our parks offer the greatest opportunities for plantings on public land due to the amount of available space. However, this needs to be balanced with the needs of people using the park for sports and recreation. Our nature strips are another impactful location for tree planting as there is available space to plant and people would benefit from the shade brought by new trees.

To reach our target of 30% canopy cover trees also need to be planted on private land, which covers 64% of our Council area.

To achieve the 30% canopy cover target, collectively we will need to plant 13,410 trees across the Council area over the next 25 years. Our research shows that council has the capacity to plant 8,101 of these trees on public land, which is 2.5 times more than what would be planted under our current ‘business as usual’ planting rate.

The next 9 years of planting is crucial – we need to plant more trees over the next 9 years in order to give the plants more time to mature by 2050. We will also be planting more medium and larger size trees to help us achieve our canopy target quicker.

This is an ambitious undertaking and tree planting will cost approximately $14.82 million over 25 years.

Aside from planting new trees, we need to care for and protect our existing trees. Removing trees is always a last resort and replacing them is a priority.

We’re looking at our planning controls to see how we can do more to encourage large and medium size trees to be incorporated into new developments.

There is not enough available space on public land for us to plant enough trees to achieve 30% tree canopy cover, we need your help.

We’re calling on you to plant trees too, at your home, your business, and school - preferably trees that are native to our area. More information about this will be made available once the draft Urban Forest Strategy has been adopted by Council.

We’ve set an ambitious target of 5,000 new trees to be planted on private land, to help us achieve our target of 30% tree canopy cover by 2050.

Have your say

We asked you to take a look at our draft Urban Forest Strategy and provide any feedback or comments for consideration.
Feedback was collected via the following methods:

  • Online: complete the feedback form below
  • Email: records@woollahra.nsw.gov.au with the subject: 'Urban Forest Strategy feedback'
  • Mail: Address your letter to the General Manager at Woollahra Council, PO Box 61, Double Bay NSW 1360

Feedback closed at 5pm, Thursday 31 August 2023.

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