The $17-million redevelopment of the Royal Sydney Golf Club in Rose Bay has received the stamp of approval of the NSW Land and Environment Court, amidst public outcries from residents who are concerned about the removal of hundreds of trees in the Club.
The controversial approval comes three years after a three-year battle between Royal Sydney Golf Club and residents, who fought hard against plans to cut down around 595 mature trees as part of the proposal.
Members of Save the Trees, one of the community groups that opposed the plans, gathered outside the course less than 24 hours before the Land and Environment Court made the decision. But it turned out the residents lost the battle to save the trees.
“We fought a good fight. We forced them to reduce the number of trees being massacred and increased the diversity of them but we were unable to stop these out of touch people who only care about their golf and not the environment or the wider community. Shame on them,” Save the Trees wrote on social media.
Woollahra Councillor Nicola Grieve also expressed her disappointment with the plans, describing it as a “tree massacre brought by an elite private Golf Club out of touch with the world and a broken planning system.”
Plans
The extensive renovation of the 18-hole golf course at the club involves site works, service upgrades, tree removal and replacement planting.
In response to the locals’ environmental concerns, the club argued in their proposal they have formulated a comprehensive plan to address the shortcomings whilst “creating a resilient, sustainable landscape fostering an enhanced golf environment while restoring the environment to benefit endemic flora and fauna.”
This includes replacing and supplementing the removed trees by planting 1,888 new trees, as well as shrubs, sedges, and native grasses in three years.
The club also mentioned in the planning documents that the proposal seeks to remove 595 of the overall 2,696 trees on site and of which 11 are ‘high value (2 percent), 512 are ‘medium value’ (86 percent), and 72 are ‘low value’ (12 percent).
“Trees proposed to be removed have been thoroughly assessed and justified through detailed analysis focussed on removing trees of non-endemic species, trees detrimental to the long-term sustainability of the course, or being at end of life or a safety risk to the community,” RSGC stated.
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The DA plans and documents can be viewed at Woollahra City Council’s DA tracking tool, with the reference 402/2019.