Tree removal permits in Glenroy
Merri-bek counts a tree as mature when it's 8 metres or taller and its trunk, or its trunks combined, measure more than 40cm across at 1.2 metres above the ground. Pruning more than 15% of its canopy needs the same permit as taking it out. Trees on council's Significant Tree Register are covered too.
If a planning overlay or an old planning permit condition protects the tree, Merri-bek says a planning permit is needed instead, and it takes precedence over the local law. Glenroy has no permit page of its own here yet, so the Victorian permit page is the place for the state rules.
Tree removal in Glenroy: what's local
A big postwar build
War Service Homes started building in 1950, and the Housing Commission finished about 1,700 houses in Glenroy and Jacana between 1953 and 1957. A lot of Glenroy's housing dates from that decade.
The Toorak of the North that wasn't
A land company sold Glenroy that way in the late 1880s, but sales were slow and there were only 40 houses by 1891.
Creek and ring road
The Moonee Ponds Creek forms the western boundary, with reserves along it at Glenroy West, and the Western Ring Road runs along the north with a reserve beside it.
Jemena's lines
Jemena lists Merri-bek in its network area, and Glenroy sits well north of CitiPower's Moreland Road boundary. For a tree on a street line, call Jemena.
Tree jobs you can do yourself in Glenroy
You can
- Take before and after photos of any pruning, as Merri-bek suggests
- Trim small branches you can reach with both feet on the ground, using secateurs, loppers or a pruning saw
- Keep branches over the footpath cut back to your boundary, with the 3-metre clearance council asks for
- Measure the trunk at 1.2 metres before deciding anything bigger
Leave to an arborist
- Any cut that could take off more than 15% of a mature tree's canopy, which needs a permit first
- Pruning under that line, where Merri-bek recommends an arborist with at least AQF Level 3
- Anything near the power line to your house, which owners must keep clear
- Removals, and the report council may ask for from an AQF Level 5 arborist
Hiring an arborist in Glenroy
Get the arborist to estimate the share of canopy before they start, and put it in the quote. Unauthorised topping and lopping can bring a fine in Merri-bek, so a job described as a big cut back on a mature tree is one to stop and check. If removal is the answer, council will most likely ask for a replacement tree that can reach 8 metres, so think about where that goes.