Residents outraged at tree removal

Paraburdoo residents and business owners have been angered by the removal of trees from the Paraburdoo shopping centre's front carpark and an alleged lack of communication as part of upgrades to the site by the Shire of Ashburton.

Works on the $1.3 million Royalties for Regions-funded Paraburdoo Town Centre revitalisation project, which includes upgrades to stormwater drainage, were originally programmed by the Shire to start later this month, but began about two weeks ago.

Shire of Ashburton president Kerry White said an opportunity arose to have a contractor on site earlier.

"Minimal customer and business disruption was anticipated as there is ample alternative parking at the rear of the shops," she said.

Resident Kerri Lang, who works at one of the centre's shops, said she had not received any direct consultation about the project for the past seven months since early stages of planning.

Ms Lang said the only consultation she had received that works were about to begin was when a Shire engineer visited her workplace and said the carpark would be closed off the following week.

"Someone came in and said 'oh we're closing the car park'… you think they would have sent out a letter outlining the dates it was going to be closed and when it was going on," she said.

"(They) went and ripped out every tree in the carpark - they didn't leave one."

One Paraburdoo business owner, who did not wish to be named, said they were losing money because of the closure, and questioned the staging of the carpark works and its timing.

"They could have done it around Christmas or closed half the carpark," they said.

Mrs White said there had been prior consultation about the project through the Paraburdoo Community Action Group, and Paraburdoo councillors and the Shire president had met with Shire staff on June 4 - prior to construction starting - to discuss the works and the need to remove the trees.

"It is unfortunate that the trees could not be kept as part of the car park upgrade … 12 shaded bays have been included in the current plans, as have the footings for two additional shade structures to shade 12 vehicles each … the shade covers (about $75,000 each) are proposed to be included in the next two budgets," she said.