The combination of a cold snap and a chainsaw has Burdekin Park almost fully open to the public.
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The park has been closed to the public since March due to dangers posed from an influx of bats.
Falling branches and bat faeces have littered the park since that time.
Chilly weather means the park’s bat colony has virtually left for warmer climes. Although there are still a number of them left the larger trees.
Now with the reduced bat numbers Singleton Council staff have been able to get into the park and remove damaged trees and also trim back limbs on surviving trees.
Singleton Council’s director of corporate and community services group Anthony Egan says the second stage of work on the pruning and removal of dead and dying trees in Burdekin Park has now been completed.
“25 trees have now been removed and 27 trees pruned to remove dead and dying branches,” he says.
“Our parks team has mowed, cleaned and re-opened the playground. The museum and toilet blocks have also been re-opened, the fence has been moved to allow access along the major footpath and the bus stop has been re-located back to its original area.”
Half the park is now open including the children’s playground and work is continuing on the remaining closed areas.
The next stage of works will commence on Monday July 4 and will be carried out during the day with an ecologist and carer on standby, in an effort to minimise any disturbance to the flying foxes.
“We anticipate the tree pruning and removal works to be completed by the end of July, weather permitting,” Mr Egan says.
“Council appreciates the communities patience during these works and will endeavour to provide regular updates on our Facebook page and website singleton.nsw.gov.au.”
The works have been approved through the 5 year licence that was granted to Singleton Council from Office of Environment and Heritage in May 2016.