General News
21 February, 2026
Legal threat over tree
A FRESHWATER action group is threatening litigation over the future of a large raintree earmarked for the chop to make way for new private development.
Local nurse and member of the Freshwater Raintree Action Group, Suri Hobday, said the group met last Sunday at the site of the tree at 51 Old Smithfield Road to discuss the “ongoing battle” with the Cairns Regional Council over what alternatives were available.
“We met with council last week and they could not answer or demonstrate to our community what alternative options were reviewed before rubber-stamping this contentious approval,” Ms Hobday said.
“We are still waiting for the tree ownership evidence that CRC relied upon to make this decision.”
Lauren Sunner, a Freshwater local for 20 years, an occupational therapist and mother of three young children, said the tree removal would impact the entire street and Freshwater State School.
“My eldest is starting school next year. This tree provides so much natural shade and cooling to this school pick-up and drop-off zone, protecting school children from the increasing risks of urban heat,” she said.
Ms Sunner said as a health professional she was “appalled” that this highly-valued shade tree had been targeted.
Ms Sunner said the council had not enlisted a cadastral surveyor to determine whose land the tree was on, which would determine who could make the removal decision.
“Yet CRC have been maintaining this tree for years, showing that they are responsible for it.”
A council spokeswoman declined to comment on the tree’s ownership but said on Wednesday that it had already been approved for removal, and once that happened, it could not be rescinded.
“The development application which seeks to enable a house to be built on private property was determined under council’s planning scheme and applicable planning legislation,” she said.
One of the conditions for approval was to ensure replacement planting and landscaping to sustain canopy cover and amenity was undertaken.
The spokeswoman said council officers had sought detailed arborist, structural and engineering assessments, which found the tree’s root system had caused “major, irreparable structural damage to the existing dwelling, rendering it uninhabitable”.
Expert advice had also ruled out any mitigation of the damage through installing root barriers or pruning.
Ms Sunner said the action group had also tried to contact the developer to discuss a compromise.
