Tree removal in Eltham: what's local
Stringybark country
A 1940 account described Eltham as farms and uncleared stringybark forest, and Nillumbik still calls the area undulating and well treed. Its roadside reserves are mostly eucalypts and acacias.
Heritage trees on Main Road
Nillumbik's records list 12 London planes in the Avenue of Honour on Main Road, 14 manna gums at Wingrove Park and 28 yellow box further along Main Road. A heritage listing can bring tree controls with it, so ask council if your property is in a heritage overlay.
Bushfire, then and now
Victorian Places notes bushfires were a frequent danger in Eltham. Most of Nillumbik is mapped bushfire prone, but some urban parts of Eltham aren't, so VicPlan is the place to check your own block.
Mud brick houses among the trees
Montsalvat's adobe and rammed earth buildings of the 1940s helped start Eltham's taste for mud brick homes. When a house sits close to a big gum, how the tree comes down in pieces is the main thing a quote should explain.
AusNet lines
Nillumbik shares clearance around powerlines with AusNet. If a tree is touching a street line, keep away from both and ring AusNet's faults line.
Bushfire clearing in Eltham
| Bushfire clearing (clause 52.12) | Nillumbik approval | |
|---|---|---|
| What it's about | Clearing vegetation, including trees, within 10 metres of an existing home, to protect it from fire | Removing, lopping or pruning a tree protected by an overlay, the local law or the title |
| When it applies | Only on land mapped bushfire prone, for homes built or approved before 10 September 2009 | Whenever one of those controls covers your tree |
| What can stop it | A covenant or Section 173 agreement protecting vegetation, which Nillumbik says can mean the exemption doesn't apply | The council assesses the application against the control that applies |
| Where to check | VicPlan, for the bushfire prone map and any Bushfire Management Overlay | Nillumbik Planning Services |
Tree jobs you can do yourself in Eltham
You can
- Look up your address on VicPlan and save the property report.
- Rake up fallen bark, leaves and twigs around the house before summer.
- Prune small branches you can reach with both feet on the ground, using hand tools, once you've asked whether the tree is protected.
- Photograph the tree from a few sides before you ring anyone.
Leave to an arborist
- Anything that needs a ladder, climbing gear or a chainsaw.
- Any tree within reach of a power line.
- Big gums close to the house, which have to come down in pieces.
- A health or risk assessment to go with an application to Nillumbik.
Hiring an arborist in Eltham
We'd pull the VicPlan report and the title first, then ring Nillumbik's planning line before booking anyone. The bushfire rule is narrower than many people think: mapped land, a home that predates September 2009, and nothing on the title protecting the vegetation. If any of those is uncertain, treat the tree as protected and ask.