Do you need a permit to remove a tree in Bendigo?

Step 1: look up your property in VicPlan

Go to VicPlan, search your address and download the free planning property report. It lists your zone and any overlays. The ones that control trees in the Greater Bendigo Planning Scheme are:

• Vegetation Protection Overlay (VPO). VPO1, "Wildlife corridor protection", says "A permit is required to remove, destroy or lop any native vegetation". The VPO has no small-block exemption.
• Significant Landscape Overlay (SLO). SLO1 covers bush garden and semi-bush residential areas, and requires a permit to "remove, destroy or lop any native vegetation", except lopping to help it regenerate.
• Environmental Significance Overlay (ESO). The clause requires a permit to remove, destroy or lop any vegetation, including dead vegetation, unless its schedule says otherwise. ESO5 doesn't require one for vegetation that isn't native to Victoria.
• Heritage Overlay (HO). Tree controls apply only where the schedule marks the heritage place "Tree controls apply? Yes".
• Bushfire Management Overlay (BMO). This changes the bushfire exemptions in step 3.

Council also offers a free duty planner appointment at its Bendigo office, and its planning team is on 1300 002 642.

Step 2: is the tree native, and is it exempt?

Clause 52.17 of the planning scheme applies across Victoria: "A permit is required to remove, destroy or lop native vegetation, including dead native vegetation." Most gums, wattles and other Australian species are native vegetation. Exotic trees such as elms, oaks and pines aren't covered by this clause, although an overlay can still protect them. If you're not sure whether a tree is native, council suggests asking a suitably qualified professional.

The clause's table of exemptions includes these, in its own words where they're quoted:

• Small blocks. Native vegetation on land "together with all contiguous land in one ownership, which has an area of less than 0.4 hectares". It doesn't apply on a roadside or rail reservation, and it doesn't override an overlay.
• Planted trees. Native vegetation "that was either planted or grown as a result of direct seeding", unless it was planted or managed with public funding for land protection or biodiversity.
• Dead trees. Dead native vegetation, except "a standing dead tree with a trunk diameter of 40 centimetres or more at a height of 1.3 metres above ground level".
• Maintenance pruning. Lopping or pruning "for maintenance only, provided no more than 1/3 of the foliage of each individual plant is lopped or pruned". Not the trunk, and not on a roadside.
• Immediate risk. Vegetation that presents "an immediate risk of personal injury or damage to property". Only the part that presents the risk may be removed.
• Around existing buildings. The minimum needed to use or maintain a building built under a permit issued before 15 September 2008, within 10 metres of the building.

When native vegetation is removed under a permit, council says you must also provide an offset to compensate for the impact on biodiversity. That can add real cost, so find out early.

Step 3: the bushfire exemptions (the 10/30 rule)

Clause 52.12 lets you clear around an existing house in a bushfire prone area without a planning permit, if the house was built, or approved by a planning or building permit, before 10 September 2009:

• 10 metres: "any vegetation", including trees, within 10 metres of the building
• 30 metres: "any vegetation, except trees", within 30 metres
• 50 metres, in the Bushfire Management Overlay only: "any vegetation, except trees", within 50 metres
• Boundary fences: along a boundary fence between properties in different ownership, built before 10 September 2009, the clearing on both sides "when combined must not exceed 4 metres in width"

That's Victoria's 10/30 rule. The "10/50 rule" people search for is a New South Wales rule and doesn't apply here. Whether your property is in a bushfire prone area or the BMO is on your VicPlan report. The CFA also advises checking with council for any other laws protecting native vegetation, and getting written permission before clearing anything on a neighbour's land.

Street and nature strip trees

Council's nature strip guidelines say "the City's planted nature strip trees are not to be pruned or lopped by property owners; all maintenance of City planted trees will be carried out by the City". To ask for a street tree to be pruned or removed, contact the City of Greater Bendigo online or on 1300 002 642. Work on the nature strip itself can need a Works within Road Reserve permit.

Trees near powerlines

Powercor, the distributor for Bendigo, manages trees around its own powerlines at no cost to you. If you want to remove a tree within its Tree No Go Zone, you ask Powercor for a quote, and Powercor says "it is your responsibility to apply for the relevant council permits before CitiPower and Powercor commence work". Energy Safe Victoria says you're responsible for keeping your trees at least one metre clear of the service line to your house.

Your neighbour's tree

Victoria has no specific law for neighbours' tree disputes. The Victorian Government's guidance says you can cut back branches, leaves or roots that cross your boundary, at your own cost, but the branches and leaves remain your neighbour's property unless you agree otherwise, and you're liable for damage you cause to the tree. If the tree is protected, you'll still need a permit, which council can tell you about.

Applying for a permit

Where one of the vegetation overlays applies, the overlay clauses list removing, destroying or lopping one tree as a VicSmart application. Council's 2026–27 fee schedule lists VicSmart applications from $233.10; confirm which fee applies to yours before you lodge.

Two claims you may see online

You may see a single trunk size or a fixed fine quoted online for Bendigo trees. Neither appears in the planning scheme or council's guidance. Your planning property report and council are the authority for your block.

Common questions