Tree removal in Springvale: what's local
Estates from the sixties
Springvale's big post-war housing growth came in the early 1960s, when estates with made roads and services replaced bare subdivisions. A tree planted with one of those houses has had about sixty years to grow.
A cemetery full of trees
Springvale Botanical Cemetery, on the Princes Highway since 1901, has around 12,000 trees. They belong to its trust, which looks after them, not to the houses around it.
One council, one size test
The City of Greater Dandenong covers Springvale. Its 2023 local law protects trees with a trunk 40 cm or more across, measured 1.4 metres off the ground, unless a planning permit applies to the tree instead.
The network
United Energy runs the street lines in Melbourne's south-east. A tree touching one is the network's to deal with.
Trees and power lines in Springvale
Energy Safe Victoria says owners are responsible for keeping their own trees clear of the service line, the single wire running from the pole to the house, before branches grow within a metre of it. A tree near a line outside your boundary is the network's job.
Don't prune anywhere near that wire yourself. Energy Safe Victoria suggests a qualified professional for this, and a good arborist will tell you straight away if the work is beyond what they're allowed to do near live lines.
Tree roots and houses in Springvale
If roots are in the drains or lifting the driveway, Greater Dandenong wants an arborist report that shows why the tree has to go. Photos of the damage and a plumber's findings help the arborist make that case.
Sometimes the answer is root pruning or a barrier instead of a removal. Our guide to tree roots and your house walks through the options.
Tree jobs you can do yourself in Springvale
You can
- Prune small, low branches you can reach from the ground with secateurs, loppers or a pruning saw.
- Measure the trunk 1.4 metres up: the distance around divided by about three gives the width council asks about.
- Keep before and after photos of any pruning; Greater Dandenong mentions them in its pruning conditions.
Leave to an arborist
- Anything within reach of the service line or a street line.
- Removing a tree 40 cm or more across, once council has confirmed the permit.
- Root pruning near the house or pipes, after underground services are located.
Hiring an arborist in Springvale
Get the measurement and photos, ring Greater Dandenong, and only then book a quote. A sixty-year-old tree is often worth a careful prune rather than a removal, and an arborist can usually tell you which on the first visit.