A City of Sydney councillor is fighting for more fencing around some of the city’s green spaces to protect them from being damaged by pedestrians and pets.
Adam Worling wants to preserve footpath garden beds from passersby cutting across in high-traffic areas, like Crown Street in Surry Hills.
He tabled his “hey, get out of our garden” motion in council this week, calling for more protective fencing in those areas, repair damaged and neglected corners and consider shortcuts pedestrians may take when designing future garden beds.
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This motion was unanimously passed and the council will now investigate the measures.
Worling said desire lines, the shortest possible route that pedestrians take often across footpath garden beds, have left a trail of damage at some of the spaces.
He said maintenance crews are continuously replanting and repairing the garden beds, but some are so damaged they are left completely barren.
“Admittedly, the fences will come with a bit of cost but the only alternative is that we keep replanting all the time,” he said.
“To me, that’s not a very sustainable thing to keep replanting if people are going to keep accidentally or intentionally cutting a corner and trampling on the plant.
“It’s a long-term solution, rather than a short-term solution.”
Worling added that protective fences have been installed on parts of Crown Street in Surry Hills and Macleay Street in Potts Point, allowing plants to regrow and flourish undisturbed.
“If you go up Macleay Street now, the gardens are just thriving. They’re just lush and green, and they’re the way they should be,” he said.
“Not every garden needs to be protected, but I’m just asking the city anywhere where there’s high pedestrian traffic, we should just look at protecting our gardens a bit more.”
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There have been more than 1.2 million new shrubs and grasses and 17,500 new trees planted in the council parks and streets since 2004.
They make up a combined 78,219 square metres of landscaping across Sydney.
But with 1.3 million people in the city each day, Worling said there are more footpath garden beds being threatened.
Worling said the garden beds had aesthetic value but also helped the city achieve 40 per cent green cover by 2050 to cool down residents from the effects of climate change.
“They’re not just there to be pretty,” he said.
“Wherever we can cool our city down by putting more green in, it’s hugely beneficial to the community.”
Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore, who supported the motion, said better measures would help keep the city’s plants thriving.
“I was more than happy to support it, just like any motion that will help keep Sydney beautiful,” she said.
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But Pedestrian Council of Australia chief executive Harold Scruby questioned why the council was concerned about the street gardens being trampled on by pedestrians when cyclists and delivery riders are riding and parking on footpaths.
“They should look at the big picture and the big problems,” he said.
”What a joke. This is such a minor problem.”
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