Twist in bitter two-year battle to force a mother to trim her 30m gum tree ‘for safety reasons’ as she sells up after claiming her millionaire neighbour wanted to enjoy city views
- In 2019, Bill McDonald won a legal battle against neighbour Tabitha Pendlebury
- The dispute was over a eucalyptus tree that was hanging over the reporter’s yard
- Mr McDonald said he wanted the gum removed to keep his young son safe
- Ms Pendlebury claimed he wanted to cut it down because it blocked his views
A bitter two-year battle to force a mother to trim her 30m gum tree ‘for safety reasons’ has taken another twist after she sold her property, claiming her millionaire neighbour only wanted to enjoy city views.
In 2019, former Channel Seven anchor Bill McDonald won a bitter two-year legal battle against his neighbour Tabitha Pendlebury over the eucalyptus tree.
Ms Pendlebury was ordered to prune the tree for ‘hazard reduction’ after the matter found itself in front of the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
Mr McDonald said he wanted the gum removed to keep his eight-year-old son James safe from falling branches at their Windsor home in Brisbane‘s inner-north.
But Ms Pendlebury suggested otherwise, claiming the celebrity figure wanted to cut down the tree because it blocked his city views – something Mr McDonald denied.
A former Chanel Seven anchor has won a bitter two-year legal battle with his neighbour over a 30-metre eucalyptus tree
Tabitha Pendlebury was ordered to prune the tree for ‘hazard reduction’ after the matter found itself in front of the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal in 2019
Former news anchor Bill McDonald said he wanted the gum removed to keep his eight-year-old son James safe from falling branches at their Windsor home
The mother has since pulled out of plans to subdivide after she and Mr McDonald applied to Brisbane City Council together in late 2017 for plans for ‘detached residential purposes’.
The council granted the permit during the pair’s long-running dispute over the tree.
But a letter has since been sent to the council asked to exclude Ms Pendlebury’s lot.
‘The proposed changes are functionally the same as the approved development, on a reduced scale,’ the letter stated.
The revised plans would provide room for Mr McDonald’s car to access the back of the lot where Ms Pendlebury’s tree was hanging over the yard.
During their old row over the tree, Ms Pendlebury said the QCAT process had been very time consuming and she was forced to take time off work.
‘To me the flaw (in the process) is the trees are an unfortunate pawn in process,’ Ms Pendlebury told The Courier-Mail at the time.
‘It’s been there longer than I’ve been alive, what right do I have to remove it.’
Ms Pendlebury, who has an eight-year-old daughter, submitted to the tribunal that said she did not see the tree, believed to be 80 years old, as a safety risk and the arborist said it was ‘super healthy’.
Mr McDonald said a seven-metre branch had fallen near his son, who has a cubby house sitting near the base of the tree.
Ms Pendlebury said she was approached by Mr McDonald to prune the tree and sought a vegetation protection order
‘They are called widow-makers for a reason,’ he said.
Ms Pendlebury said the falling branch was caught by another tree and Mr McDonald, who moved into the house in 2016, built his son’s cubby after moving in.
Ms Pendlebury said she was approached by Mr McDonald to prune the tree and sought a vegetation protection order.
QCAT found there should be regular annual pruning of the tree following the ‘hazard reduction’ prune.
QCAT found there should be regular annual pruning of the tree following the ‘hazard reduction’ prune