Do you actually need an arborist report?
Some jobs need three separate consents and some need none at all. It comes down to your zone, any overlay, your council's local law and what you are actually proposing to do. You can work most of it out yourself in about ten minutes.
What is covered
1. Start with what you are doing
Start with what you are proposing to do rather than with the tree, because the controls are triggered by the works.
2. Then check three things
Your planning zone
Look the address up on VicPlan. If you are in a residential zone other than Low Density Residential, Clause 52.37 may reach your tree. If you are in Low Density Residential, commercial or industrial, it does not.
Any overlay
Same search. A Vegetation Protection, Significant Landscape, Environmental Significance, Heritage or Neighbourhood Character Overlay can each trigger a permit, on its own test, regardless of tree size.
Your council's local law
This is the one people miss, because it is not on VicPlan. Every council sets its own threshold, its own measurement height, and sometimes its own definition. The council pages set out each one.
Two permits for one tree is normal
A tree can need a local law permit and a planning permit at the same time, assessed by different parts of the same council against different tests. Holding one gives you nothing under the other, and a building permit does not cover either.
3. The four situations that need a report
Council has asked for one
The easiest case. They will usually tell you what they want, and sometimes at what qualification level. Several Victorian councils name AQF Level 5, the Diploma of Arboriculture, as the minimum. Others just say suitably qualified and leave it open. Where a level is named, a report from below it can be refused on that ground alone whatever the content says.
You are lodging a planning application and there are trees
An arboricultural impact assessment is normally required, covering trees on the site and any on adjoining land whose root zone reaches into the works. Leaving out the neighbour's tree is one of the most common causes of a request for further information.
You want to remove a protected tree
Protected by a local law, an overlay, a significant tree register or Clause 52.37. The report is what makes the case, and it has to make it against the specific test that applies.
Something has failed and a tree is being blamed
A blocked sewer, a cracked slab or a lifted path. Before anyone removes anything it is worth investigating whether the tree is really the cause. I have been called to sites where the roots in the sewer came from a tree two doors down, and to one where the cracking turned out to be reactive clay and nothing to do with the tree at all.
4. When you probably do not need one
- The tree is genuinely dead, and you can demonstrate it. Clause 52.37 exempts dead trees, and most local laws do too
- It is below every applicable threshold. Check all of them, because the thresholds and measurement heights differ between the local law, the overlay and Clause 52.37
- It is a declared weed species
- You are doing routine pruning within your council's exemption, which is often expressed as a percentage of canopy or a maximum branch size
- The works genuinely sit outside every root zone, which happens more often than people assume on larger blocks
- There is an immediate safety risk, in which case emergency provisions apply, though you should document the condition before and after
Not sure? Send the address
I will tell you which controls apply and whether you need a report, and I do not charge for that. It takes me a few minutes to look up. Reasonably often the answer is that you do not need me, and I would rather say that than write you a report you had no use for.
Common questions
What qualification does a council require?
It varies. Darebin and Bayside both name AQF Level 5, the Diploma of Arboriculture, in writing. Several others ask only for a suitably qualified arborist. Where a level is named, a report from below it can be refused on that basis alone, so check the council before you commission anything.
Can I remove a tree if it is dangerous?
Emergency provisions generally allow removal where the risk is immediate, but the bar really is immediacy, and you should photograph and document the condition before and after. Councils do question this one, and a tree that has been declining slowly for two years will not meet it.
Does a building permit cover tree removal?
No. Planning permits, local law permits and building permits are separate consents, and holding one gives you nothing under the others.
Do I need a report for my neighbour's tree?
If your works reach into its root zone, that tree belongs in your impact assessment. You do not need their permission to assess it, though you do need it to prune or remove anything.
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Working on a site this applies to?
Send the address and whatever plans you have. Fixed quote back within one business day, and if it turns out you do not need a report I will tell you that instead.