Tree removal permits in Randwick
Randwick's development control plan review took effect on 27 July 2026. It renamed the tree section Part B5, Preservation of Trees, updated the exemptions and added species to the undesirable list.
The size test moved too. A draft would have dropped it from 6 metres to 3 metres; after consultation council settled on 5 metres. Council's tree page now says consent is needed for trees 5 metres or taller, with a canopy 4 metres or wider, or a trunk circumference (the distance around it) of 1 metre, measured 1 metre above ground.
Some things are covered at any size: every palm except the cocos palm, cycads, tree ferns, trees in recognised bushland and hollow-bearing trees. The Randwick permit page has the full detail.
Tree removal in Randwick: what's local
Palms are protected
In Randwick, a Canary Island date palm, a Bangalow or any other palm except a cocos needs consent whatever its size. So check with council before booking palm work, even on a short one.
Strata and apartments
For strata or company title, council wants minutes of a Body Corporate or Executive Committee meeting agreeing on the tree, plus the owner's written consent, before an application goes in.
The significant tree register
Every tree on Randwick's Significant Tree Register needs development consent, not just a permit, to be significantly pruned or removed. Volume 4 covers privately owned trees, and an updated register is expected in late 2026.
Heritage streets
Major work on trees on heritage items or in heritage conservation areas also needs development consent, lodged through the NSW Planning Portal.
Wires in the street
Ausgrid's trimming program listed Randwick, Kensington and Queens Park in November 2026. If a branch is on a street line, call Ausgrid.
Tree jobs you can do yourself in Randwick
You can
- Pick up fallen fronds and small branches.
- Photograph the tree and measure its height and spread roughly from the ground, for the application.
- Get the strata committee or neighbour's written consent sorted early.
- Water and mulch a stressed tree in a dry spell.
Leave to an arborist
- Anything on a palm above head height, where old fronds and seed stalks are heavy.
- The arborist report council needs as evidence for a dead, dying or dangerous tree.
- Removal or major pruning, once council's consent is in hand.
Hiring an arborist in Randwick
We'd check three things before ringing anyone: is it a palm, is the property heritage-listed, and is it strata. Any yes means paperwork first. For a tree we were worried about, we'd ask an arborist for a written report straight away, because Randwick wants that evidence even when the tree is dead.