Chris Dickson defends cutting down pohutukawa - just days after trees lost protection

The biggest pohutukawa is to be reduced to a stump, to allow regrowth. Photo / Supplied

Former America's Cup skipper Chris Dickson has upset neighbours by felling a mature pohutukawa at his multimillion-dollar clifftop property in Auckland - just days after the trees lost protection.

But he is defending the move. He said the tree was a mosquito trap and was damaging his pool and house.

From September 4, trees in the urban environment, including those in the coastal conservation area on the North Shore, lost blanket protection under changes to the Resource Management Act.

Stumped: Dickson says he had to cut down the pohutukawa because it was damaging his home. Photo / Wayne Thompson

"It's a terrible shame to lose that tree," said Dickson's neighbour Paul Firth. "The tree could be 90 to 100 years old.

"Chris has been good about consulting with me but it's a terrible shame to lose that tree."

Another neighbour, Terry Delaney, said the tree was once visible from the walkway.

"I think it's a sacrilege what's happened but apparently you can't do anything to stop it."

Dickson said he and his wife Sue had owned the 1970s 200sq m cottage, which sits on a 1239sq m site stretching from Kitchener Rd to the sea, for 20 years but lived elsewhere. The property has a CV of $4.3 million.

"We had seven pohutukawa on the site and with the tree laws have not been able to trim them. One of the trees had grown too large for the site.

"It's been damaging the house and making the swimming pool unusable and a mosquito-infested trap for over a year now.

"We like trees, we like pohutukawa and we still have pohutukawa."

Dickson said he had no plans to "bulldoze or develop the lovely little cottage".

The house had enough views and now had reasonable sunlight.

The biggest pohutukawa is to be reduced to a stump, to allow regrowth.

Auckland Council member for the North Shore Chris Darby said the loss of protection meant "open slather" because the council had no power to intervene when residents complained.

"I would urge people to pause and think of the consequences of felling magnificent tree species that have taken human lifetimes to grow."

The lead author of a new University of Auckland study of trees on the Auckland isthmus, Sarah Wise, said only 6 per cent of the urban forest of the former Auckland City Council area remained. Only 15 per cent is protected through Auckland Council's Schedule of Notable Trees but those like the Takapuna ones on private land had lost the blanket cover of protection in the law change.

Tree Council chairman Sean Freeman said it had been expected that land owners who had long desired to remove trees would act soon after protection ceased.

Auckland Council's northern manager for resource consenting, Ian Dobson, said it had been processing an application for works at 5 Kitchener Rd, which included removal of three pohutukawa. This application was withdrawn by the applicant on August 14, before a decision was made.