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Inside the bitter neighbourhood feud over 11 trees on a sprawling estate as family fights to cut them down to make way for a VERY lucrative development – but locals are fighting back
- Prominent Adelaide family plans to destroy the trees to make way for new homes
- Locals in Brighton, Adelaide, are demanding the council denies the application
- The Lofty Building Group has lodged a 28-house subdivision plan for the block
- Holdfast City Council will consider the proposal in the coming weeks
A bitter neighbourhood feud has erupted over 11 trees as a prominent family fights to destroy them so they can build 28 new homes on their sprawling estate.
Locals in the exclusive Adelaide suburb of Brighton are up in arms over a proposal by the Le Cornu family, executors of late furniture mogul Llora Shirley’s property, to axe the trees on Sturt Road.
Furious residents have started a petition against the family’s plans, arguing it will take centuries to re-establish the ‘valuable canopy cover’ the trees provide.
Locals are fighting controversial furniture Le Cornu dynasty over their proposal to destroy the trees on their late matriarch’s property in Brighton, Adelaide (pictured)
The trees include four lemon-scented gums, six sugar gums and a weeping bottlebrush
The Lofty Building Group has lodged a 28-house subdivision plan for the block which the Le Cornu family plan to sell when and if the proposed development is complete.
Petition organiser, Joanna Wells, is pleading with Holdfast City Council to save the trees – four lemon-scented gums, six sugar gums and a weeping bottlebrush.
She has so far gathered more than 3,000 signatures.
‘Tree canopy such as they provide takes hundreds of years to create. Once we lose it we will never get it back,’ the petition states.
A bitter neighbourhood feud has erupted over 11 trees as a prominent family fights to destroy them so they can build 28 new homes on their sprawling estate
‘These trees not only remove air pollutants from the traffic on busy Sturt Road but keep the street and surrounding homes shaded and cool.’
Resident in the nearby suburb of Seacliff and petition signatory, Lynda Yates, told Daily Mail Australia removing the trees would destroy the habitat of native birds.
‘There’s quite a bit of wildlife that lives there at the moment. There’s nowhere for it go now there’s hardly any green places around,’ she said
‘So the wildlife is going to suffer and probably die as a consequence.’
The existing home, which was previously recommended for heritage listing, would be demolished if the subdivision is approved
Ms Yates said the application to demolish the trees and build a ‘dense’ housing estate was unpopular among the community.
‘It’s a shame a nursing home or an aged care home or something couldn’t buy that land and actually utilise the advantages its got there, rather than just put it into 28 allotments which could be predominately concrete,’ she said.
Lynda Yates (pictured) said the application to demolish the trees was unpopular with locals
The house was bought by Lancelot Le Cornu – who was the managing director and chairman of the successful furniture business Le Cornu – in the 1960s.
Mr Le Cornu died in 2013, and after his wife Llora Shirley passed in March 2019 the family estate took ownership of the property.
The existing home, which was previously recommended for heritage listing, would be demolished if the subdivision is approved.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Lofty Building Group for comment.
A spokesman told The Advertiser: ‘Lofty Building Group is not yet in a position to make any comment on the plan.
‘Lofty will be happy to comment once there is clear direction on how they will move forward on this project.’
The council will consider the proposal in the coming weeks.
A petition by activist Joanna Wells asking Holdfast City Council to save the trees (pictured) has gathered over 3000 signatures
