City of Yarra
Tree controls in Yarra
Yarra's General Local Law sunsets on 31 August 2026. The Community Local Law 2026, adopted on 9 June and gazetted, takes over the next day. It moves the measurement height and it adds pruning to the list of things you need a permit for. This is my home council and I have read both.
Clifton Hill, Fitzroy, Collingwood, Richmond, Abbotsford, Carlton North, Cremorne, Princes Hill
At a glance
- Until 31 Aug 2026
- General Local Law. Significant tree is 400 mm trunk diameter measured at 1.5 m above ground, or at ground level
- From 1 Sep 2026
- Community Local Law 2026. Same 400 mm diameter, now measured at 1.4 m above ground, or at ground level
- Multi stemmed
- Combined trunk diameter of 400 mm counts, at either height
- What needs a permit now
- Remove, damage, destroy or lop a significant tree
- What needs a permit from 1 Sep
- Prune, remove, damage, destroy or lop. Pruning is newly captured
- Penalty
- Up to 20 penalty units
- Register
- Both. The size threshold catches trees automatically, and the Urban Forest Register lists trees individually or in groups regardless of size
- Register nominations
- Assessed quarterly, and Council says assessment can take up to six months
- Landscape plans
- Must show TPZ and SRZ for existing trees. Council may also require what it calls a Tree Impact Study
- Asset protection bond
- From $5,000 for all works. $15,000 minimum where concrete drainage is involved, $50,000 where brick
- Canopy cover
- 17% across the municipality, targeting 21.25% by 2040
Drawn from Council's published material as at August 2026. Councils update without notice, so confirm anything you are relying on for a lodgement.
What actually changes on Monday
Two things, and the second one catches people out.
The measurement height moves from 1.5 m to 1.4 m. That aligns Yarra with Clause 52.37 and with DSH under AS 4970:2025, which is a sensible tidy up. But on a tree that tapers, and most do, a trunk measured 100 mm lower is a trunk measured wider. Trees that sat just under the 400 mm threshold at 1.5 m may sit above it at 1.4 m. If you measured a tree in Yarra recently and called it exempt, measure it again.
Pruning is added to the prohibition. The current clause covers removing, damaging, destroying or lopping. The new clause 2.3(1) reads: a person must not, without a permit, prune, remove, damage, destroy or lop a significant tree. From 1 September, a tidy up of a 400 mm tree without a permit is an offence in Yarra.
Council's own page has not caught up yet
Yarra's significant trees page still publishes the 1.5 m measurement height. It becomes wrong on 1 September 2026. If someone has told you your tree is under the threshold on the basis of that page, the advice needs rechecking against the new law.
Diameter, not circumference
Worth stating plainly because Yarra is the odd one out among its neighbours. Yarra sets 400 mm diameter. Darebin sets 100 cm circumference, which is about 318 mm diameter. Merri-bek sets 400 mm diameter but measures at 1.2 m. Three adjoining councils, three different tests. Get the wrong one and the application goes back.
Yarra's Clause 52.37 information is incomplete
Council's vegetation removal page gives the three part canopy tree test correctly, but it names only the Mixed Use, General Residential and Neighbourhood Residential zones. The clause also applies in the Residential Growth Zone and the Housing Choice and Transport Zone. The page also says nothing at all about boundary canopy trees, the 6 m street frontage rule or the 4.5 m rear boundary rule, and never cites the clause by number.
Do not plan a Yarra site off that page alone. The state provision is what binds.
What Yarra asks for in a report
Less than you would expect. The vegetation removal page lists an arborist report only under what you may also need to provide, from a "suitably qualified arborist". No AQF level is named and AS 4970 is not mentioned in either edition.
The landscape plan requirements page is the stronger document and the one to work to. It requires existing trees identified with botanical names, height and canopy spread, the adjoining construction elements that might affect them, and TPZ and SRZ for every retained tree. Where significant vegetation is involved, Council may ask for a Tree Impact Study, which is Yarra's own term for what everyone else calls an impact assessment.
Two consents, not one
A Yarra site can need a local law permit for the tree and a planning permit for the works, decided by different parts of Council on different tests. Council is blunt about the first: there is no guarantee a permit will be issued. Build the programme on the assumption that both take time.
What I do in Yarra
Tree Removal Report
Council has asked for an arborist report before it will consider removing your tree. This is that report, and it is usually the whole job.
ResidentialArboricultural Impact Assessment
The report councils ask for when your works reach a tree. Every tree assessed, every zone calculated to AS 4970:2025, every encroachment justified.
DevelopmentClause 52.37 Canopy Tree Report
The provision that landed in September 2025 and caught most of the industry flat. Assessment, permit triggers and replacement canopy strategy.
Residential · PlanningOther councils
Darebin
Northcote, Thornbury, Preston, Reservoir, Fairfield, Alphington
Merri-bek
Brunswick, Coburg, Pascoe Vale, Fawkner, Glenroy, Brunswick East
Banyule
Ivanhoe, Heidelberg, Eaglemont, Rosanna, Viewbank, Montmorency
Boroondara
Camberwell, Hawthorn, Kew, Balwyn, Glen Iris, Canterbury
Stonnington
Malvern, Toorak, Prahran, Armadale, Glen Iris, South Yarra
Whitehorse
Box Hill, Blackburn, Nunawading, Mitcham, Surrey Hills
Monash
Glen Waverley, Mount Waverley, Clayton, Oakleigh, Chadstone
Bayside
Brighton, Sandringham, Hampton, Black Rock, Beaumaris
Working on a site in Yarra?
Send the address and whatever plans you have. I will tell you which controls apply, what reports the permit path needs, and what each one costs, within one business day.