August 05, 2010 at 11:00 AM

Trees are meant to be good for the environment and good for us – not cause headaches! But for many of our clients, the Australian Standard for the protection of trees on development sites and adjoining properties (AS 4970) can disrupt their development plans.

Introduced in November 2009, the Standard is designed to better protect quality trees and applies to all trees on your site, on the nature strip and trees on adjoining properties. Whereas, before, a development could encroach a Tree Protection Zone (TPZ) by 33 percent without further assessment, now you can only eat into a TPZ by 10 percent.

So to make sure you can get your planning permits without the hassles, factor feature trees into your plans, ask your future neighbours for permission to remove ‘problem’ trees at your expense, and don’t assume you can remove all trees from your site.

With the help of a qualified Arborist, we’re happy to assist you to gain your planning permits. For more information, Contact Us or call us on 03 9596 9000.