Tree removal laws in Victoria
In Victoria, whether you need a planning permit to remove a tree usually depends on overlays in your council's planning scheme (for example a Vegetation Protection Overlay, Significant Landscape Overlay or Environmental Significance Overlay) and on local laws for significant or street trees. There's no council-wide size threshold — check your property's overlays on VicPlan and your council's planning scheme.
Legal basis: Planning and Environment Act 1987 + local planning scheme overlays (Vegetation Protection, Significant Landscape, Environmental Significance); VicSmart fast-track permits.
Common exemptions
- Dead trees and trees that are an imminent risk can often be removed without a permit (council-dependent).
- Properties without a relevant overlay may not need a planning permit — but local laws can still apply.
Rules that can override exemptions
- Planning scheme overlays (VPO / SLO / ESO).
- Bushfire (BMO) clearing entitlements in designated areas.
- Federal EPBC Act for nationally listed species/communities.
Victoria councils (79)
Pick your council for its specific tree-removal rules.
- Alpine
- Ararat
- Ballarat
- Banyule
- Bass Coast
- Baw Baw
- Bayside
- Benalla
- Boroondara
- Brimbank
- Buloke
- Campaspe
- Cardinia
- Casey
- Central Goldfields
- Colac Otway
- Corangamite
- Darebin
- East Gippsland
- Frankston
- Gannawarra
- Glen Eira
- Glenelg
- Golden Plains
- Greater Bendigo
- Greater Dandenong
- Greater Geelong
- Greater Shepparton
- Hepburn
- Hindmarsh
- Hobsons Bay
- Horsham
- Hume
- Indigo
- Kingston
- Knox
- Latrobe
- Loddon
- Macedon Ranges
- Manningham
- Mansfield
- Maribyrnong
- Maroondah
- Melbourne
- Melton
- Mildura
- Mitchell
- Moira
- Monash
- Moonee Valley
- Moorabool
- Moreland
- Mornington Peninsula
- Mount Alexander
- Moyne
- Murrindindi
- Nillumbik
- Northern Grampians
- Port Phillip
- Pyrenees
- Queenscliffe
- South Gippsland
- Southern Grampians
- Stonnington
- Strathbogie
- Surf Coast
- Swan Hill
- Towong
- Wangaratta
- Warrnambool
- Wellington
- West Wimmera
- Whitehorse
- Whittlesea
- Wodonga
- Wyndham
- Yarra
- Yarra Ranges
- Yarriambiack