Residents of the southern Hume areas, including Tullamarine, Gladstone, and Westmeadows, will soon see extra greenery in their neighbourhoods, as the Urban Forrest team of Hume council will soon plant 6300 trees.
But residents in other suburbs will have to wait for the council to plant additional trees.
Broadmeadows resident Shah Noor said she was disappointed that her suburb and some other suburbs like Dallas, Coolaroo and Campbellfield, which lack green space, weren’t on the council’s top priority areas.
“Every time I walk in Broadmeadows, it’s really hot… with concrete everywhere,” she said.
Dallas resident Lauren McCoy said the areas in 3047 postcodes will not be planted with new trees soon.
Ms Mccoy said the areas mentioned are urban areas with streetscapes that only provide a little shade.
“They’re small trees in these areas,” she said.
“I hope that [the council] would promote the beautification of our area as much as they promote the beautification of the more regional, rural areas.
“If the council [also] shows pride in our area… then maybe everyone who lives here will also have pride.”
A Hume council spokesperson said the council has a five-year plan to plant trees in all urban areas of Hume.
In response to the residents’ concerns, Hume council spokesperson said the areas chosen for the current round of planting had low access to open space were high on social vulnerability scoring and the areas had many vacant street tree planting sites.
“Planting trees in one geographical area at a time saves time and money for Hume City Council as planting, watering and tree establishment assessments are all close to one another, reducing travel time,” they said.
“Residents can make a request for a tree to be planted in front of their property on the nature strip at any time from anywhere in Hume, the request will be assessed and if a tree can be planted in the location it will go into our 2025-2026 planting program.”
