Tree removal permits in Melbourne
Melbourne is split across many councils, and they protect private trees in two quite different ways. Some run a tree local law of their own. Others leave it to the planning scheme, through overlays and state clauses. A tree that's fine to prune in one street can need a permit three streets over, once you cross a council boundary.
The local law councils each draw their own line. Boroondara protects canopy trees from 110 cm around at 1.4 m up, and says that applies even to dead trees. Kingston measures a protected tree at its base, at more than 110 centimetres. Stonnington starts at 140 cm at 1.4 m, and Hobsons Bay counts a tree or palm from 110 cm. Glen Eira, Frankston and Darebin have their own versions again.
Then there are councils that rely on the planning scheme. Whitehorse, Knox, Monash, Maroondah, Manningham, Casey and the Yarra Ranges protect trees through Vegetation Protection, Significant Landscape and Environmental Significance Overlays, each with its own schedule. Banyule says all of its residential areas carry tree protection overlays. And Bayside changed its local law on 1 November 2026, while its planning permit rules carry on.
The canopy tree clause sits over all of them
Clause 52.37 went into every Victorian planning scheme on 15 September 2025 and was rewritten on 24 September 2026. These days it counts any tree 5 metres or taller whose canopy averages at least 4 metres across. In the main residential zones, removing, destroying or lopping one can need a planning permit.
Where there's already a house, the clause is aimed at boundary canopy trees: any with part of the trunk within 6 metres of the narrowest street frontage or 4.5 metres of the rear boundary. That's exactly where many Melbourne trees sit, out the front and along the back fence. The Victorian permit page explains how the clause, the overlays and the local laws fit together.
Tree removal in Melbourne: what's local
Five networks own the street lines
CitiPower runs the CBD and inner suburbs, Jemena the north-west, United Energy the east, south-east and Mornington Peninsula, and AusNet the north and east. Powercor covers western and regional Victoria. A tree on a street line is their job, not an arborist's.
Winter storms in the hills
On 9 June 2021, damaging to destructive winds hit central and eastern Victoria, and the Victorian Government said thousands of trees came down across the Yarra Ranges. In the 2 September 2024 windstorm, United Energy named Frankston South among the hardest hit areas, with gusts up to 120 km/h.
Bushfire overlays on the fringe
Nillumbik tells residents to check VicPlan for bushfire prone land and the Bushfire Management Overlay, and Manningham says the overlay covers a significant portion of the municipality east of the Mullum Mullum Creek. Victoria's 10/30 clearing rule only applies in mapped bushfire prone areas, to houses built or approved before 10 September 2009.
Heritage avenues and old elms
Hobsons Bay looks after more than 900 elms, most protected by planning and heritage overlays. The Canary Island Date Palm Avenue on Mount Alexander Road, Essendon, is on the Victorian Heritage Register.
Common tree jobs in Melbourne
Removals near the front or back boundary are the ones most likely to need paperwork, because of the canopy clause. Arborist reports come up with development and with permit applications: Banyule, for example, asks for one when four or more trees are involved or the work is tied to a development.
Pruning isn't always exempt from the permit rules either. Stonnington's local law covers pruning or trimming a significant tree, and Frankston's covers pruning more than one-third of the outer canopy. Once a tree is gone, stump grinding is the usual next step. Palms, hedges and bigger clearing jobs on the fringe have their own pages: palm trees, hedge trimming and land clearing.
Hiring an arborist in Melbourne
Put your address into VicPlan and note every overlay, then read your council's tree page or our permit page for it. If the tree is over 5 metres tall and near the street frontage or back fence, assume the canopy clause is in play until the council says otherwise. Then get an arborist to look, and ask them who'll lodge any permit before anyone quotes a removal date.