Newcastle City Council has started replacing trees at Foreshore Park, many of which were removed for the city’s Supercars track.
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Council staff have begun digging holes for 32 mature Norfolk Island pines near the Nobbys Road and Wharf Road roundabout.
The council removed 170 trees at the park last year, including 100 for the Supercars race.
“These [trees] will create a more inviting space for people visiting our spectacular Foreshore Park,” lord mayor Nuatali Nelmes said.
“The precinct as we know it today is now 30 years old, and the changes under way are in line with our vision for an improved, greener, more user-friendly and sustainable public space.”
The first lot of new trees, which have been growing at a nursery on the Central Coast, will go in the ground by the end of the month.
Later stages of planting will include broad-leaved lilly pillies, coastal banksias, native hibiscuses and kentia palms. The full program will include 236 trees, 55 of which will be Norfolk Island pines. A council representative said 130 of the trees would be at an advanced stage of growth.
Cr Nelmes said the trees would provide “9800 square metres of usable shade – 20 times more than what was available prior to work commencing in 2017” when fully grown.
“The Newcastle 500 event allowed us to start implementing the adopted plans for Foreshore Park, and the new plantings align with the precinct’s future use as Newcastle’s major regional event space,” Cr Nelmes said.
Trees will also be planted in front of Customs House, around the new Wharf Road car park and on the northern side of Wharf Road near Horseshoe Beach Road.
Karen Read, from Newcastle East Residents Group, welcomed the return of more greenery to the park.
“We’re very happy that they’ve begun the planting,” she said.
“We’re hoping we do get our 3000 per cent more shade than we had before, because that’s the quote they gave us, by 2020, I believe.
“Let’s hope they look after them a bit more carefully than they look after the gardens they planted for Bathers Way.”