Outraged East Bowral residents woke to the sound of chainsaws on Monday as council workers fell more than a dozen willow trees, drowning out residents' pleas for more time for consultation with council.
Voting to remove the offending willows, Wingecarribee Shire Council claimed leaf litter from the non-native species would cause drainage problems along the waterway.
Given only 17 days to respond to council's move to bring the trees down after getting the okay from councillors, active resident Peter Hales sent an open letter to general manager David McGowan, asking for more time to ensure residents could sign a petition.
In part the letter dated October 20 said:
"In view of the demonstrated 'Gestapo tactics' of the parties concerned, this letter is forwarded in advance requesting the matter be reviewed by council with residents being given a realistic opportunity to debate the issues."
Mr Hales said he was motivated to start the petition because the community was not able to get a response from council individually.
"About seven people sent letters but no one got a reply," Mr Hales said.
"It was a magnificent place where birds and aquatic life were thriving, so council's decision to cut all these trees down makes me question their planning skills."
Although Mr Hales said it was too late to save the willow trees he still reported the incident to the Environment Protection Authority on Monday in an effort to stop council from repeating the "Gestapo-style" removal of trees in other parts of the Southern Highlands.
Wingecarribee Shire Council general manager David McGowan said he was unaware of the October 20 request but said council was aware of opposition to the trees being removed.
"Concerns about the removal of the willow trees were addressed at a council meeting in August," Mr McGowan said.
Cr Nick Campbell-Jones, who opposed the willows being removed at the original council meeting, said the military-like precision of the operation again showed council's lack of interest in consulting with the community.
Quoting the land and water conservation authority Mr Campbell-Jones said it supported the removal of the willows but was not clear as to the reason why.
"For a start, these are Babylonica willows which not one of the listed problem species," Cr Campbell-Jones said.
The Sydney Water Catchment Authority confirmed that Babylonica willows did not present a problem to waterways like its close relative the pussy willow, however, they did say all willows can potentially cause problems to drainage.
"But more importantly council's methods once again come into question," Cr Campbell-Jones said.
"There were at least seven letters to council prior to the petition being started but council did not respond to one of them."
Cr Campbell-Jones confirmed that tenders to complete the drainage ponds had only been issued last week, leaving a lag time of at least a couple of months.
"Clearly cutting the trees down so quickly was aimed to stop people protesting," Cr Campbell-Jones said.
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