The Public Tree Management Policy was approved by Council on Tuesday 13 December 2022.

The Public Tree Management Policy ensures the management of trees within City of Greater Geelong improves our urban forest, enhances canopy cover and builds connections with native vegetation.

The final policy and consultation report can be found on this page.

The City now looks forward to working with the community and stakeholders on implementing the policy.

OVERVIEW

Geelong’s trees are important, vibrant parts of our city and surrounds, providing many services to the local community, along with contributing to Geelong’s liveability and localised neighbourhood characters.

Our trees help to:

• shade the city and its hard surfaces during hot summers,
• enhance our local biodiversity,
• reduce stormwater run-off into rivers and the bay,
• absorb air pollution (sequester and store carbon).

We are responsible for managing over 107,000 street trees and around 46,000 park trees, as well as the trees along rural roadways and in reserves. This includes those along our waterways and bike trails.

In line with our Urban Forest Strategy and Sustainability Framework, we recognise that all public owned trees managed by the City are dynamic, living assets requiring ongoing maintenance and management.

A review of the Tree Management Policy has been undertaken to ensure successful management and protection of our vast tree population.

Proposed changes to the policy include:

• changing the name to ‘Public Tree Management Policy’ to clarify that the policy applies to City owned and managed trees,
• referring to 'Tree Canopy Contribution' as opposed to what was previously called ‘offset value’, to differentiate the contribution from Native vegetation offsets,
• adding section 6 to make clear the Tree Canopy Contribution requirements, and
• adding clauses 3.5 and 3.6 to Section 3 - Tree Maintenance, to clarify the extent to which a tree canopy will be pruned.

The community is now invited to have its say on these changes in the draft Public Tree Management Policy.

The draft policy is located, for review here, or in the document library of this page.

We are taking feedback from Wednesday 28 September 2022 until 5pm Friday 28 October 2022.

Your feedback is important to us, please visit any one or more of the multiple options below to have your say: -

• Our Quick Poll to show if you do /don't support the proposed changes to the Tree Management Policy and/or
• Our online survey below to expand on your feedback. You can request a hard copy by contacting the officer listed in the 'Contact Us' section of this page.

The personal information requested on this form is being collected by City of Greater Geelong for the purpose of the Tree Management Policy Engagement or any other directly related purpose. If the personal information is not collected, we may not be able to contact you for further questions or solutions. Your personal information will not be disclosed, except as required to do so by law. Our privacy policy is available on our website. If you wish to alter any of the personal information you have supplied to City of Greater Geelong, please contact us by sending an email to privacy@geelongcity.vic.gov.au.