In the early hours of Wednesday morning, Claudia Gall put up signs on each of the 17 Ficus Hillii trees in Balo Street, saying 'Please don't cut me down', in protest of council's plans to remove them and to make the community aware of what was going on.

Council has since responded to say that the tree replacement program for Balo Street, which will commence this financial year, was approved in consultation with Moree Plains' urban advisory committee, which provides recommendations to council in relation to, amongst other matters, the amenity of the Moree CBD, and is made up of councillors, council staff and members of the community.

Director of engineering services Ian Dinham said the existing Ficus Hillii trees in the CBD area of Moree have resulted in increasing maintenance costs as their canopy and root system is ever enlarging and that the decision to remove them comes is based on the impost these trees are placing on council's main street maintenance budget.

"These trees, whilst serving many purposes, are stretching council's main street maintenance budget in an unsustainable manner," he said.

"This burden is only going to increase over time.

"Recognising this, council has taken advice and consulted with the urban advisory committee and endorsed a tree replacement program. It will ensure that the dense cooling effect of the trees in the main street is retained whilst replacing this particular species of tree, which has such an invasive root system and a tree canopy that becomes heavy and intrusive over time.

"While council acknowledges the aesthetic appeal of these trees, it is very important for this to be balanced with practical considerations like the cost implications of such maintenance and the risks associated with retaining these trees."

This sentiment was echoed by mayor Katrina Humphries.

"In these times in particular, I am sure our ratepayers would expect council to make prudent financial decisions to ensure that money expended by council in the main street delivers real value," she said.

"I am confident that our business houses and community members could dream up a heap of ways we could better spend that money rather than replacing tiles and undertaking other costly maintenance activities."

The Ficus Hillii trees were recommended by external advisers during a main street redevelopment more than 20 years ago. The Ficus Hillii variety was chosen on the advice of specialists due to its quick-growing nature, lush canopy (needed in Moree summers), limited foliage drop and general aesthetic appeal.

Mr Dinham said whilst delivering on many of these fronts, these trees have, over time, created expensive maintenance responsibilities for council as they have grown larger.

The replacement of the Ficus Hillii trees is part of a tree replacement program endorsed by council.

Council has taken advice on the alternate options for shade in the main street (including planting other appropriate tree species) and will canvass these options with stakeholders.

At the present time, the program has commenced with four trees to be replaced this financial year.

Every two to three years thereafter, a further four trees will be similarly replaced until all trees have been so replaced. It is anticipated that the program will take approximately 16 years to carry out.