Days getting hotter, council takes action to cool down the city

New data from the Climate Council has revealed that by 2050, and based on existing action, the regional city will record an additional 12 days over 35 degrees celsius and that will only continue to increase towards the end of the century.

On average temperatures in Tamworth exceed 35 degrees around 20 to 25 days each year.

With that in mind, Tamworth Regional Council (TRC) is taking steps towards bringing down the city's temperature, by planting trees.

Funds from the federal government have enabled TRC to plant an additional 18 trees in the city's CBD throughout the winter months.

The planting of 12 trees on White Street, near the Centrepoint carpark entrance, and six along Brisbane Street marks a big step forward in the Urban Street Tree Management Plan Advisory Group's plan to improve the city's landscape.

The chair of the advisory group, councillor Helen Tickle, said this is a major investment and will increase the amount of shade in the CBD.

"With heat mapping, it showed that in our CBD area, such as White and Brisbane streets, it is over two degrees hotter than it is in residential areas," she said.

"The coolest part of the CBD was on Peel Street, where there are trees; this is similar to the Peel River and the parks where there are more trees.

"It is important to mitigate the heat effect, particularly with black surfaces like sealed roads and black roofs, that trap the heat."

Cr Tickle said the transformation of the town over time has played a role in the town becoming hotter.

"When most towns were built, there was no tar; it was just gravel or dirt roads, and they all had trees," she said.

"Over the years, as the community has grown, the roads have been built, and it got hotter and hotter, as there wasn't enough trees to mitigate the heat."

The two tree species chosen to be planted are desert ash and aristocrat pear.

"The desert ash will grow to eight metres; that is limited due to our region, and the aristocrat pear has been proven to be a good grower in our region," Cr Tickle said.

The White Street construction to dig out the vaults and plant the trees is slated to begin in early to mid-March.

"We will start on the northern side of the street, and that was chosen as it will have the least impact on traffic and parking," said Mark Gardner, TRC manager of project planning and delivery.

"White Street vaults will be constructed with the closure of the parking lanes. We will stage the construction, so it will not impact parking too much."

While construction along Brisbane will take a bit more time due to the coordination needed with Transport NSW.

"Brisbane Street is a state road, and we will expect to close the left hand lane to traffic. So, we will have to limit traffic to one lane while there is machinery onsite," he said.