Common tree jobs in Hornsby
Run council's decision tool
Hornsby's online Tree Prune/Removal Decision Tool tells you whether the work needs a permit. Do it before you collect quotes, so the arborist knows what the job involves.
Get the right report
If the tree is likely to fail or has less than 5 years of life left, council may want a report from an AQF5 consulting arborist, written to its own guidelines.
The owner signs
The property owner fills in the consent section. Tenants can't, and a tree on strata or common property needs the body corporate or an authorised officer.
Plan the replacement
Council asks for an approved removal to be replaced with a tree of like habit, native to Hornsby Shire, planted close to the old one.
Tree removal in Hornsby: what's local
Towers by the line, older homes around them
High-rise apartments now stand beside the railway, with Federation and Arts and Crafts houses in the streets on either side. A tree in a unit block's grounds needs the body corporate's sign-off before council will consider it.
Building near a tree
Hornsby needs a permit for driveways, slabs, retaining walls or trenching inside a protected tree's protection zone, which reaches 4, 7 or 9 metres from the trunk depending on its size. Sort it before the builder digs. Our tree protection zones guide explains the idea.
Bush at the end of the street
Berowra Valley National Park can be reached on foot from Manor Road, Hornsby. Council's exemptions don't apply inside endangered ecological communities, or in the 50m buffer around them.
Wild weather
In November 2013, Weatherzone reported the Bureau of Meteorology had confirmed a tornado around Hornsby station and the shopping centre, tearing trees out of the ground. Ausgrid has Hornsby on its trimming program for October and November 2026.
Storm damage and fallen trees in Hornsby
Keep clear of the tree and of any wires it touches, and treat fallen lines as live from at least 8 metres away. Hornsby Council says to report trees across power lines to Ausgrid. Ring the SES for storm help at home, or 000 if anyone is in danger.
Hiring an arborist in Hornsby
Run the decision tool, then ask an arborist one blunt question: is there a defect council will accept? Hornsby says a tree being too large, dropping leaves, blocking views or shading solar panels isn't reason enough on its own to remove a healthy one. If the answer is no, good pruning within the rules usually solves more than a refused application does.