Tree pruning on the Gold Coast: what's local
Christmas 2023 showed what wind does
AIDR reports the 25 December 2023 storms brought a 106 km/h gust at the Gold Coast Seaway, stronger gusts likely elsewhere, and at least 221 requests to the SES from the Gold Coast, Logan and Scenic Rim by 10:15 pm. Long, heavy limbs are the ones worth lightening before that kind of wind comes again.
Three metres from the wires
The City says Energex is responsible for pruning trees within three metres of overhead power lines, and Telstra for trees within three metres of overhead phone lines. Nobody else should be cutting in that zone.
Nature strip trees are the City's
The City plants and maintains trees on nature strips, reserves and parks, and asks residents not to do that maintenance themselves. Report a damaged or overgrown one through its online form, or ring the City if it's a risk to public safety.
Big trees and City Plan
City Plan treats vegetation over 4 metres tall, or with a trunk over 40 centimetres around at 1.3 metres, as assessable for clearing. If pruning is heavy enough to put a big tree's life at risk, check with the City before work starts. More on our Gold Coast permit page.
How tree pruning works on the Gold Coast
Good pruning follows AS 4373-2007, the Australian standard. It covers deadwooding (taking out dead branches), thinning a dense crown so wind passes through, lifting low limbs over a driveway or path, and reducing a limb that reaches too far over the roof. Each cut goes just outside the branch collar, so the tree can grow over it.
Lopping (cutting branches back to stubs between growth points) is on the standard's list of unacceptable practices. The regrowth is bushy and often poorly attached, which is the opposite of what a storm-prone garden needs. See crown thinning and lifting and lopping vs pruning.
Neighbours' trees on the Gold Coast
Under Queensland's neighbour tree law, the tree-keeper is responsible for branches overhanging the neighbour's land. For branches reaching at least 50 cm over the boundary and 2.5 m or less above the ground, there's a formal notice giving the tree-keeper at least 30 days to act. In a strata complex, the body corporate is usually the tree-keeper for common property trees. Our neighbour trees guide has the full process.
Tree pruning on the Gold Coast: what you can do yourself
You can
- Cut small, low branches you can reach with both feet on the ground, with hand tools
- Keep gutters and the pool clear of leaf drop
- Note limbs that rub the roof or sag after rain
- Take photos to show the arborist
Leave to an arborist
- Anything needing a ladder, ropes or a cherry picker
- Limbs over the house, pool, fence or neighbour
- Anything within three metres of overhead wires, which goes to Energex or Telstra
- Large trees where heavy pruning may need the City's say
Hiring an arborist for tree pruning on the Gold Coast
We'd book a look in early spring and ask the arborist to name each limb that's coming off and why, in writing. If a tree has already split or dropped a limb in a storm, we'd skip the tidy-up conversation and ask for a proper assessment of whether it should stay at all.