Minjungbal Drive Street Planting Project

Commencing: 19th October 2020

Completion: October 2020

Landscaping works along Minjungbal Drive are planned to begin in 19th October 2020. This project is part of Tweed Shire Council’s Cool Towns Urban Forest Program which aims increase canopy cover across the shire, targeting those areas that currently lack in shade and include our busier areas such as cycleways, footpaths and parks.

The Cocos Palm (also known as Queen Palm) planted along the centre median strip of Minjungbal Drive is a registered environmental weed which Council has decided to remove and replace for these reasons:

• Cocos Palms are extremely high maintenance. By replacing the Cocos Palms with native trees we will significantly reduce the maintenance costs of pruning and clearing dead palm fronds, and clearing heavy seeds and fruit which litter the median strip and road surface.
• To improve environmental impacts. The unripened fruit of Cocos Palms is poisonous and can affect native bats. Removal of the trees will reduce the seeds of this environmental weed spreading widely by wind, birds and animals.
• Increase amenity and create a cooler, more comfortable environment by increasing canopy cover by planting more native trees.

Works will include the removal 34 Cocos Palms from the median strip, between Dry Dock Road and Heffron Street, and the replanting of 43 native Brush Box trees and 15 native Eumundi Quondong’s on the median strip. A further 35 Tuckeroos, Water Gums and Cottonwoods will also be planted along the river bank between Dry Dock Road and Heffron Street.

Native trees are widely recognised for their aesthetic value, the habitat they provide for native fauna and the contribution to the community’s pleasure, comfort and wellbeing including providing increased shade for pedestrians, motorists and parked vehicles.

Trees also play a major role in defining the character of a shire and can be used to reduce solar radiation in urban areas, reducing noise and purifying the air while providing the street with living assets which are both environmentally and aesthetically pleasing.