Does my Knox tree need a planning permit?
Knox's tree page sets out planning scheme controls and doesn't mention a tree local law. The council admits the answer can be tricky: it depends on your zone, your overlays, and the tree's size and type.
The rule that reaches most homes arrived on 15 September 2025, when Amendment VC289 put Clause 52.37 into every Victorian planning scheme. In Knox it applies in the General Residential, Residential Growth, Neighbourhood Residential and Mixed Use zones, even on a block with no overlays.
A canopy tree, in the council's words, is more than 5 metres tall, has a trunk more than 0.5 metres around at 1.4 metres up, and a canopy at least 4 metres across. Knox offers a handy yardstick: a single storey house with a pitched roof on flat ground is about 5 metres high.
On a vacant lot, a permit is needed to remove, destroy or lop a canopy tree anywhere on the land. Where there's a house, the clause covers trees within 6 metres of the narrowest street frontage or 4.5 metres of the rear boundary.
Overlays and big blocks
On top of Clause 52.37, parts of Knox carry a Vegetation Protection Overlay (VPO), a Significant Landscape Overlay (SLO) or an Environmental Significance Overlay (ESO). Each has its own schedule and rules, and the council asks you to confirm them with its planners before cutting.
Amendment C196, exhibited from 4 May 2026 to 4 June 2026, would remove references in VPO Schedule 2 to trees confirmed as gone. It adds no new controls, and where other protected vegetation remains, the overlay still applies.
On sites over 4000m2, Clause 52.17 protects native vegetation whatever the zone, including dead vegetation.
Units and dual occupancies: check the landscape plan
This one catches owners in Knox's many unit developments. If your land was developed before, as a dual occupancy or a group of units, the trees may be protected by the approved plans, including the landscape plan.
In that case you need the council's written approval, or the plans amended, before a tree comes out. A tree can be locked in by a plan even where no overlay or canopy rule touches it.
What Knox asks for in an application
- A covering letter saying why the tree should be removed or pruned.
- A written statement from a suitably qualified person, such as an arborist, on species, height and health, if the reason is the tree's health or stability.
- Photos of each tree.
- A copy of title and any encumbrances, searched within 3 months.
- A site plan showing all canopy trees, the ones to go, and replacement trees with expected height and canopy at maturity, soil and irrigation.
- Development plans, if the tree is coming out for construction.
Lodging with Knox
Talk to Planning Services
The council suggests a chat with Planning Services before any works or removal.
Lodge online or on paper
Registered users can lodge through the Online Services portal. Hard copy applications are still accepted.
Expect possible advertising
If the removal is likely to affect a neighbour or the character of the street, the council may require the application to be advertised.
Plan the replacement
Knox says that if it issues a permit for tree removal, there will be a requirement for replacement planting.
What if a tree goes without a permit?
The council says you can be fined if you breach these planning controls. It doesn't publish an amount on its tree pages.
If we lived in Knox
On a unit or dual occupancy site, we'd dig out the approved landscape plan before anything else, because that's the trap. Then we'd measure the distances to the street frontage and back fence, and ring Planning Services with the answers before asking an arborist to quote.
Want an arborist to look at it?
Tell us the job and your postcode, and a local arborist calls you to talk it through.