Honourable avenue settlement

By Rebecca Fraser
NARRE Warren North residents have reached a compromise with a wellknown property developer who plans to relocate two oak trees from the suburb’s Avenue of Honour.
The trees will be moved to make way for a road leading up to a new shopping centre development in Narre Warren North, but the developer, Lyall Seebeck, has agreed to include a new memorial walk in the shopping precinct construction.
The shopping development received unanimous approval from Casey councillors late last year with the plans including provisions for a supermarket, bakery, liquor shop and newsagency in Main Street, Narre Warren North.
However, following the decision, nearby residents and the Berwick RSL questioned the council’s decision and the impact the relocation of the trees would have on the Avenue of Honour and Narre Warren North’s history.
Bob Street has lived in Narre Warren North since 1939 and planted and nurtured the two oak trees at the centre of the row.
He initially held strong reservations about moving the trees but this week said he was glad that a compromise had been reached for the betterment of the community.
The avenue was built in 1919 to honour World War I veterans and plans to move the trees also created much anger and concern within the Berwick RSL and even caused ripples at State branch level.
Mr Street, the former president and life member of the Narre Warren North Community Association, said the compromise had been achieved after he held three meetings with the project’s developers Lyall Seebeck.
“We talked amiably and I said I would cease my objection to the relocation of the two trees if a memorial walk was built.
“This was taken back to their planning people and they said ‘yes’.
“To have two oak trees moved and then gain this walk is a magnificent result and compromise,” he said.
Mr Street said he had taken these plans back to the Narre Warren North Community Association which had overwhelmingly supported the idea.
He said the memorial path would include 25 oak trees and would link the existing oaks on Main Street Narre Warren North to the intersection of Memorial Drive and Robinson Road as well as winding through the new shopping development.
Fellow Narre Warren North resident Clive Ellis has also been an outspoken critic of moving the two trees but said he now supported their slight relocation. “This would not have come about if people had not taken a stand and what we have ended up with is as good a result as we could hope to get,” he said.
In December Berwick RSL president Noel Sealey said war veterans would hate to see the Avenue of Honour interfered with and were investigating whether to challenge the plans at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) later this month.
But this week Mr Sealey said the Berwick RSL had abandoned plans to challenge the decision at VCAT after they received information from council confirming that the trees did not form part of the original Avenue of Honour.
Mr Sealey said the organisation had to also consider the benefits the project would bring to the community before making their decision and were now happy with the present situation.