Maitland councillors supported the trees’ removal at a council meeting this week and agreed to plant more trees, not necessarily Poplars, at another prominent site in the city.

Councillors were told in a report that the decaying trees must be removed for safety reasons and it is hoped a new grove will be planted by school children as the original Poplars were in 1939 to mark Arbor Day.

“Poplars have a short lifespan, approximately 20 years, and the trees we are about to remove are suckers from the original trees,” said Mayor Loretta Baker. “It was suggested the new trees could be planted by schoolchildren on National Tree Day.

“We made changes to our tree policy in the last council term due to the fact that it is heavy on administration and most trees are found to be requiring removal with the proviso they are replaced with an appropriate tree,” she said. “The new policy has been out on public exhibition and came back to council on Tuesday for approval.”

In a report to this week’s council meeting Council’s Infrastructure Manager Ashley Kavanagh said The Long Bridge Poplar trees have been assessed by council’s arborist who said the they require removal to ensure public safety.

It is not known how many trees were originally planted near The Long Bridge. Some of the original Poplars were damaged and removed after many floods ripped through the area. “The location of trees in the vicinity of the bridge piers is not ideal and has the potential to impact the flood flow capacity of the structure,” Mr Kavanagh said.