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Guides to Victorian tree controls
These are free and there is nothing to fill in. I wrote them because I kept answering the same questions, and because a fair bit of what is published about the 2025 changes is out of date or wrong. If you find a mistake in one, tell me and I will correct it.
All guides
AS 4970:2025: what changed, and what your council now asks for
The Notional Root Zone replaced the calculated Tree Protection Zone, Diameter at Breast Height became Diameter at Standard Height, and encroachment is now measured against the area of that zone rather than its radius. Most of the Melbourne market has not caught up, and two firms still advertise the 2009 edition.
PlanningClause 52.37 canopy trees: a decision tree for builders
Which trees are caught, where the boundary trap sits, what a council may and may not consider, and exactly how much replacement canopy you owe.
PlanningDo you actually need an arborist report?
A short decision path. Some jobs need three separate consents, some need none, and the difference is usually the zone and the overlay.
FeesWhat an arborist report actually costs in Melbourne
Real market figures, what drives the price up or down, and how to get a fixed number quickly.
Why these exist
Two provisions landed in 2025 and changed how tree work is assessed in Victoria. AS 4970 was revised, and Clause 52.37 arrived in September. Between them they altered the vocabulary of every impact assessment and created a permit trigger that reaches trees nothing else reached.
A year on, most of the published guidance still describes the old position. Councils cite the superseded standard in their own documents, and plenty of council pages still link out to calculators and guidance written for the 2009 edition. Two Melbourne consultancies still advertise the 2009 edition as the standard they work to.
That is not really anyone's fault. Councils and reference bodies take time to update their documents. It does mean that someone trying to do the right thing can read three sources and come away with three answers, so these pages set out what the provisions say and flag where the published summaries have it wrong.
Got a site this applies to?
Send the address and whatever plans you have. I will tell you which controls apply and what the permit path looks like, within one business day.