Tree removal in Kilsyth South
In Kilsyth South a dead tree isn't automatically exempt. Maroondah wants someone qualified to say so first, and some dead trees need a permit regardless.
We connect you with a local arborist who works in the hills.
Ask for a quoteDandenong Ranges. Photo: Uzman Naleer, CC BY-SA 4.0
The rule in Kilsyth South
All of Kilsyth South is in Maroondah. Of the 86 points we sampled, 200 m apart, 44 were under Maroondah's SLO1. It needs a permit for any vegetation, and lets a tree go only if it is both:
- 5 m
- under 5 m tall, and
- 50 cm
- under 50 cm around the trunk at 1 m (16 cm across). A tree past either line needs a permit.
- 3 m
- A tree within 3 m of a house or other building is exempt. SLO1 counts sheds and garages, which Maroondah's other landscape overlay doesn't.
- 10 m
- The 10/30 rule, for older houses in the Bushfire Prone Area, which covered 44 of our points. The details.
Pruning to regenerate or shape a tree is exempt, as are about twenty listed weedy species, sweet pittosporum, privet, holly and Monterey pine among them.
Get a free property report from VicPlan to see which overlays cover your block.
Checked 7 October 2026 against Maroondah Planning Scheme, Schedule 1 to Clause 42.03 (SLO1) and Victoria Planning Provisions, Clause 52.12 (bushfire protection exemptions).
Who says a tree is dead
SLO1 exempts a tree that is dead, dying or dangerous, but only once someone suitably qualified has declared it so. Get that declaration, from an arborist for example, before the tree comes down.
VPO1, found at 29 of our points, goes further. It needs a permit for native vegetation, and also for dead or fallen trees that give, or could give, a home to native animals: nesting, roosting or other habitat. A hollow dead gum is the obvious case. The schedule adds no exemptions of its own.
Checked 7 October 2026 against Maroondah Planning Scheme, Schedule 1 to Clause 42.03 (SLO1), Maroondah Planning Scheme, Schedule 1 to Clause 42.02 (VPO1) and Victoria Planning Provisions, Clause 42.02 (Vegetation Protection Overlay).
The orchid
The Kilsyth South spider orchid is found in the suburb's bushland and nowhere else. Native vegetation in the planning scheme means herbs and grasses as well as trees and shrubs, so clearing undergrowth under VPO1 can need a permit too. Nearly half our points were green wedge, the rest mainly suburban streets and some industrial land. In the residential zone the state's canopy-tree rule applies as well.
Checked 7 October 2026 against Wikipedia: Kilsyth South, Victoria, Victoria Planning Provisions, Clause 73.01 (general terms) and Victoria Planning Provisions, Clause 52.37 (canopy trees).
The rule next door
- Kilsyth
- Mostly Yarra Ranges' SLO23: 80 cm around at 1.3 m, 2 m.
- The Basin
- Knox: 5 m tall or 50 cm around at 50 cm up, 2 m from the roof.
Maroondah is in the permit guide.
Checked 7 October 2026 against Yarra Ranges Planning Scheme, Schedule 23 to Clause 42.03 (SLO23) and Knox Planning Scheme, Schedule 4 to Clause 42.03 (SLO4).
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.