The council has set an ambitious target of ensuring the city has a 40 per cent canopy cover, a massive increase from its current estimate of 16 per cent. 

The calculations importantly are currently based on public land and the report highlights the need for more comprehensive measurements   

This important planning will go some way to ensuring the future liveability of the city. It doesn’t take a great deal of imagination to recognise that  Ballarat’s green spaces – its tree-girdled lake, botanical gardens and some of its more beautiful lined avenues – are as big a part of its historical legacy as its heritage buildings.  

The vision shown by those town planners to establish this legacy is well documented but the idea here is that the amenity, beauty and even cost savings offered by trees are something everyone should enjoy.

The arguments for shade trees in a warming world are self-evident. It was no accident that the traditional farm house in a world before air-conditioning was clustered among trees. 

That forethought spells generations of power savings.

 Of course there are risks involved with all trees susceptible to storms and fire,  and this requires attention and sufficient preparation.  But in the long run people still love to live where there are trees and that says volumes about the many other aesthetic and ambient  elements they add to a place. 

Work into what kind of trees to use will also be significant. Native trees create ecosystems but must be selected carefully to ensure their suitability to an urban environment. 

Deciduous trees have the advantage of allowing light in winter but bring with them the onerous inconvenience of leaf shedding.  Ensuring ageing trees have health checks and are replaced when necessary is a vital part of this council planning but its value to the city is incalculable. Now the job at hand is to ensure this asset continues to be a hallmark of a healthy and flourishing regional city. 

However there will be obstacles. The bald and searing sea of rooftops that have spread like a blight on the outskirts of big cities is a clear sign developers are neither willing to wait nor sacrifice space for the amenity of trees.  When subdivisions mean money it is an uphill battle to reign in profit maximisation and include adequate public green space. The size of blocks on many estates is such that mature trees cannot be grown on residential land and so the public space – including the width of nature and median strips – becomes even more important.

It may be hard for councillors to consider the imperative of cooling urban trees when winter brings its first icy blasts to Ballarat, but their autumn colours alone should give them cause to ponder the legacy they will leave behind.