Welcome

BACKGROUND

At the 26 July 2022 Council meeting, a Notice of Motion requested that the City investigate available options for tree protection on private land in urban areas.

These options were later presented to Council on 27 February 2024, where Council resolved to engage directly with community organisations and the broader community to explore ways to strengthen tree protection on residential land.

OVERVIEW

We are now looking to explore options for protecting trees on private land, and are seeking community input to understand the level of support for the different approaches.

Currently, in residential areas, trees on private land are only protected if they fall under an existing heritage or environmental overlay. Tree controls on residential land are generally applied to larger canopy trees and/or trees that have been assessed as being significant against a set of criteria.

  • Regulatory Tree Protection Options

    The regulatory approach requires a permit to remove trees identified for protection. This would include paying an application fee and providing information on why the tree should be removed. A local law or a planning overlay can be introduced to require a permit for tree removal. Permit controls can include a range of exemptions that enable trees to be removed or trimmed without the need for a permit. Penalties apply if identified trees are removed without a permit.

  • Non-regulatory Tree Protection Options

    The City currently provides a number of resources to promote and educate residents about the importance of trees. There are further non-regulatory opportunities that could be explored to help protect trees on private land. Examples include free arborist advice or tree maintenance grants to help maintain identified trees, or free tube stock giveaways at special events or programs.

Through this engagement we are seeking the community's views on tree protection on private land, the various options to protect trees (both regulatory and non-regulatory) and to gauge the level of community support for tree protection on private land.

Officers will prepare a report to Council about the results of the community consultation and recommend next steps.

Any decision on whether to pursue tree controls on private land will be a decision made by the Council.

FAQs

Your Feedback

Your feedback is important to us. We encourage you to read the Frequently Asked Questions above prior to providing feedback via one of the options:

  • Our Online Survey (link below) to provide your feedback. You can request a hard copy by contacting the officer listed in the 'Who's Listening' section of this page.
  • A submission by email to jchalmers@geelongcity.vic.gov.au
  • A submission in writing addressed to:
    • Strategic Planning
    City of Greater Geelong,
    Wadawurrung Country,
    PO Box 104,
    Geelong VIC 3220

  • Survey

    Take our short survey to provide your feedback on Exploring Tree Protection on Private Land. Please read the Frequently Asked Questions prior to completing this survey.


    Take our survey 

The personal information and feedback (collectively the Data) requested on this page is being collected by City of Greater Geelong (City) for the purpose of the Exploring Tree protection on private land project, and any other directly related purpose (Project).

A de-identified engagement summary report may be published on our website.

If your personal information is not collected, the Project may not be able to be adequately conducted, and the City may not be able to contact you for further questions or to find solutions.

In order to collect and conduct in depth and detailed analysis of the Data for the purposes of the Project, the City will disclose the Data (including your personal information if provided) to its third-party service providers, including Social Pinpoint Pty Ltd, Converlens Pty Ltd and Amazon Web Services.

Other than as stated above, your personal information will not be disclosed to any external party without your consent, except as required or authorised by law

Our privacy policy is available on our website. If you wish to alter any of the personal information you have supplied to the City, please contact us by sending an email to privacy@geelongcity.vic.gov.au.