What does Blacktown count as a tree?
The Blacktown Development Control Plan 2015 defines a tree as a perennial plant with a self-supporting stem more than 3 metres tall and/or with a trunk diameter of more than 200mm, measured 1.0 metre above ground. Pruning, lopping, cutting down, root cutting, uprooting, killing, poisoning, ringbarking and burning all need consent.
Assessment runs under Chapter 2 of the NSW Biodiversity and Conservation SEPP 2021. Our NSW permit page shows how the state and council layers fit.
Some properties can't get a tree work permit at all. Heritage-listed properties, heritage conservation areas, biodiversity conservation areas and trees on council's Register of Significant Trees and Vegetation go through a development application with an arboricultural assessment report instead.
How to apply in Blacktown
Fill in the form
Blacktown's tree work permit application is a PDF form. Complete it and sign it.
Send it in
Email it, or post it to Greenspace Services, PO Box 63, Blacktown NSW 2148.
Pay the fee
Nothing is processed until the fee is paid, and the 28 days are counted from payment, not from when you lodged.
Watch the clock
Council decides standard applications within 28 days. If you've heard nothing by then, the application is deemed refused, and you can appeal to the Land and Environment Court within 3 months.
Is there a faster option?
For an added urgent fee, council assesses within 48 hours of lodgement. Weekends and public holidays don't count, urgent applications lodged after 10 am on a Friday wait until Monday, and the option covers no more than 10 trees.
It suits a tree that can't wait a month, like one with a widening split over the driveway. If it could fall at any moment, keep everyone clear and call 000 if anyone is in danger, or the SES for storm damage to the home.
What council looks for with dead, dying or dangerous trees
- Dead: photos showing it's no longer living, has no hollows and isn't used as habitat
- Dying or dangerous: a report with photographs from an AQF Level 5 consulting arborist, the only person council accepts to declare it
- Storm damage: council's list covers partly detached or damaged branches, not whole trees
- Keep all of it, because council can ask to see the evidence
That's how council describes its exemptions. Whether one fits your tree is for council to confirm, so check before any cut is made.
What are the fines?
Council says on-the-spot fines for removing a tree without consent are up to $3,000 for individuals and $6,000 for corporations. In court, penalties can reach 10,000 penalty units in the Land and Environment Court, or 1,000 in the Local Court.
It also notes that it's no defence that a qualified person got the tree's species wrong. NSW proposed higher fines on 20 October 2026; they weren't law when we checked on 3 November 2026.
Blacktown City Council tree removal permits: what to do next
We'd measure the trunk at 1.0 metre and, if it's over 200mm or the tree is over 3 metres, get the form in and paid on the same day, because the 28 days only start once council has the fee. If the tree is dying or dangerous, we'd book an AQF Level 5 consulting arborist before anything else. Council itself says arboriculture is unregulated, so ask any arborist for their qualifications and current insurance before you say yes.
Want an arborist to look at it?
Tell us the job and your postcode, and a local arborist calls you to talk it through.