Auckland Council powerless to save kauri

SHANE COWLISHAW AND ROSE REES-OWEN

Shane Cowlishaw/Stuff.co.nz

Protesters gather to rally against the felling of the 500-year-old kauri tree.

Auckland Council says it is powerless to intervene in saving a 500-year-old kauri in Titirangi.

Plans to fell the tree for a private housing development have drawn widespread criticism, including one tree climber who remains up the tree onMonday night.

The council's chief operating officer, Dean Kimpton, said in a statement the council "has no mandate to revoke the consent and so for this tree nothing can be done".

ROSE REES-OWEN

TREE PROTEST: "If I didn't climb the tree this morning it wouldn't be here now," Michael Travares says.

Kimpton defended the decision to grant the resource consent for the tree to be lopped, saying all due process was followed and a range of alternatives were considered.

"The decision is a balance between minimising the environmental effects with the developer's expectation he could build on his own property."

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Auckland Council powerless to save kauri