February 22, 2017
The South Burnett Regional Council is looking at the cost of relocating Blackbutt’s Christmas tree from Coulson Street to Les Muller Park, Mayor Keith Campbell said on Tuesday.
The move comes after some Blackbutt residents launched a petition to have the tree moved.
However, not all residents are in favour of the idea.
The Christmas tree was a topic of lively debate last week at a public meeting held at the Blackbutt Golf Club, where the Mayor and Cr Spud Jones updated residents on local projects.
The Mayor said he’d been told the town’s annual festive tree was located in Les Muller Park until about 2010, when it was relocated to Coulson Street by public request so it would look similar to Nanango, Kingaroy and Wondai’s Christmas trees.
A few years after this, the original tree was replaced with a larger Christmas tree – again, by public request – to match size of the other towns’ trees.
But now some Blackbutt residents want the bigger tree returned to its original home.
They say this is because children can’t safely access the Coulson Street Christmas tree, nor can the town’s community Christmas carols be performed around it.
The Mayor said relocating the tree to Les Muller Park would require the council to dig a 2.4 metre hole in the ground for the tree’s footing cage, then pour in about a cubic metre of concrete to secure it, which was costly.
But there were likely to be less traffic management costs associated with putting up and later removing the Christmas tree and its decorations each year if it were in Les Muller Park rather than Coulson Street (ie the D’Aguilar Highway).
It was likely to be safer for children, too.
The Mayor said he’d asked Council officers to look at all the costs associated with having the tree in either location.
But a final decision – to move the tree or leave it where it is – would depend on the number of residents for or against the idea.
The Christmas tree petition can be signed at the Blackbutt Hardware store at 26 Coulson Street.
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Reading the Blackbutt Christmas Tree petition: for the safety of children tempted to play under the Wondai Tree on the roundabout it would have been better located in Coronation Park, where all the Christmas events occur.