Tree removal in Ferntree Gully
Ferntree Gully is mostly suburban streets, and the permit question there starts with where the tree stands on the block. Nearer the hills, Knox asks how tall it is.
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Ask for a quoteSherbrooke Forest. Photo: Haworthia Ihlathi, CC BY-SA 4.0
The rule in Ferntree Gully
We sampled 158 points across Ferntree Gully, 300 m apart. Two in three were in a residential zone, so the state's canopy-tree rule covers most blocks. Closer to the hills, Knox's landscape overlays add their own test: SLO3 at 35 points and SLO2 at 28. Under either, a permit is needed for a tree that is:
- 5 m
- tall or more, whatever its trunk.
- 50 cm
- around the trunk, measured 50 cm above the ground, on the uphill side on a slope. A young tree can pass this before it reaches 5 m.
- 2 m
- A trunk within 2 m of a home's main roof is exempt under both overlays, and so is the part of a tree hanging over that roof, pruned to the Australian Standard.
- 10 m
- The 10/30 rule only reaches the bushfire-prone edge. Just 34 of our 158 points were in a Bushfire Prone Area. Which homes it covers.
Both overlays exempt a dead tree unless it is still standing and at least 40 cm around at 1.3 m, along with maintenance pruning of up to a third of a branch and the species each schedule lists. SLO3's list includes sweet pittosporum, privet and Monterey pine.
Get a free property report from VicPlan to see which overlays cover your block.
Checked 7 October 2026 against Knox Planning Scheme, Schedule 3 to Clause 42.03 (SLO3), Knox Planning Scheme, Schedule 2 to Clause 42.03 (SLO2) and Victoria Planning Provisions, Clause 52.12 (bushfire protection exemptions).
Trees on the boundary
Most of Ferntree Gully is the Neighbourhood Residential Zone, which is in the state's canopy-tree clause. On a block with a house it catches a tree at least 5 m tall with a canopy at least 4 m across, when its trunk stands within 6 m of the narrower street frontage or 4.5 m of the back fence. A tree like that in the middle of the yard is outside the clause, though a Knox overlay may still cover it. A dead canopy tree is exempt.
The clause was rewritten on 24 September 2026. A guide from before then may still mention a trunk measurement, and the clause no longer uses one.
Checked 7 October 2026 against Victoria Planning Provisions, Clause 52.37 (canopy trees) and Knox City Council: tree removal and pruning.
Brush box and lemon-scented gums
Eleven of our points were under VPO4, Knox's canopy tree protection overlay. It covers native vegetation, and it names five trees from outside Victoria as well: lemon-scented gum, red-flowering gum, brush box, narrow-leafed black peppermint and Wallangarra white gum. Under VPO4, a tree that isn't local can still need a permit.
VPO4 lets go a tree under 5 m tall with less than 50 cm of girth, and keeps the 2 m roof exemption. Its schedule has no exemption for dead trees.
Checked 7 October 2026 against Knox Planning Scheme, Schedule 4 to Clause 42.02 (VPO4) and Victoria Planning Provisions, Clause 42.02 (Vegetation Protection Overlay).
The gully the suburb is named for
Tree ferns once ran from the township up into what is now the national park, and the scenery drew day-trippers from the 1870s. The gully was set aside for public use in 1882. The railway arrived from Ringwood in 1889, and much of the housing came later. The Mountain Gate estate opened in 1959, sold as the "town of a thousand homes", and the Johnson Park and Fairhills estates were built up through the 1960s.
The suburb's heritage trees are public ones. The Heritage Overlay puts tree controls on the elms, oaks and plane trees of the Ferntree Gully Recreation Reserve on Lysterfield Road, and on a row of eucalypts in Selman Avenue, where the old shire offices stand.
Checked 7 October 2026 against Wikipedia: Ferntree Gully, Knox Planning Scheme, Schedule to Clause 43.01 (Heritage Overlay) and Victoria Planning Provisions, Clause 43.01 (Heritage Overlay).
Overlays that don't cover trees
The Design and Development Overlays our sample found most often, DDO2 at 32 points and DDO1 at 19, limit how much of a block can be built on or paved. They don't need a permit to remove a tree.
Checked 7 October 2026 against Knox Planning Scheme, Schedule 2 to Clause 43.02 (DDO2), Knox Planning Scheme, Schedule 1 to Clause 43.02 (DDO1) and Knox Planning Scheme, Schedule 5 to Clause 43.02 (DDO5).
The rule next door
- Upper Ferntree Gully
- Knox and Yarra Ranges both. The Yarra Ranges side measures the trunk 1.3 m up.
- The Basin
- Knox again, with creek and bushland overlays that have no 2 m exemption.
The permit guide covers Knox and Yarra Ranges.
Checked 7 October 2026 against Knox Planning Scheme, Schedule 2 to Clause 42.03 (SLO2), Yarra Ranges Planning Scheme, Schedule 22 to Clause 42.03 (SLO22) and Yarra Ranges Planning Scheme, Schedule 1 to Clause 42.03 (SLO1).
Ask for a quote
Tell us where you are and what needs doing. We pass it to a local arborist who works in the hills. They ring you back to talk about the job.