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Housing developments and the growing population are causing temperatures to rise in Macarthur, but a simple council service could help you bring down the heat. Campbelltown Council offers a tree planting service, where residents can request an appropriate tree be planted on their nature strip. The council receives about 10 requests for tree plantings each week and mayor George Brticevic said he would like to see more planted in older Campbelltown suburbs like Raby, Ruse and Rosemeadow. “We have plenty of trees being planted in the newer housing developments like Willowdale and Macarthur Heights,” he said. “But some of our older suburbs are starting to look bare, because trees that were planted 30-50 years ago have come down due to old age, disease or ripping up driveways. “So people in those places can request a tree and help green up those areas again.” Interested residents can call or email the council’s customer service line to request a tree for their nature strip. The council is also developing an online form to streamline the process. There are four species available for tree-planting: Blueberry Ash, Water Gum, Crepe Myrtle and Bottlebrush. The species which will be planted at any one home will be decided by the council’s specialist horticulturalist and will be dependent on the species already existing int he area. Cr Brticevic said he recently had the opportunity to join experts as they were assessing temperatures in Macarthur Heights. He said he was shocked at the difference in temperatures recorded under trees as compared to in the sun. “There was 10 or 15 degrees difference under the trees compared to just the atmosphere,” Cr Brticevic said. “It just proves how important it is to have these trees helping to reduce the urban heat island effect.” The mayor said the council was dedicated to ensuring the right trees were planted in the right areas. He said he planted the 6000th new tree at Willowdale earlier this year and knew Endeavour Energy was planting 85 new trees to replace some which had been removed due to their proximity to power lines. Cr Brticevic said the council also had plans to reinvigorate prominent roundabouts with new trees.

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