Clearing a block in Bendigo before you build: permits and cost

Published 23 October 2026

Do you need a permit to clear a block in Bendigo?

Three sets of rules apply to trees and scrub on a block, and they're checked separately. Start with a free planning property report from VicPlan, which shows your zone and any overlays.

Native vegetation (Clause 52.17)

"A permit is required to remove, destroy or lop native vegetation, including dead native vegetation", unless the clause's table of exemptions says otherwise. For a house block the key exemption is land that, "together with all contiguous land in one ownership", has "an area of less than 0.4 hectares" (4,000 m²). Own the lot next door too? Add the two together. There's no exemption for clearing to build a house in the residential, Low Density Residential or Rural Living zones, and a building permit doesn't create one. If a permit is granted, the clause requires an offset to compensate for the loss of native vegetation.

Large trees on vacant residential lots (Clause 52.37)

In the General Residential, Neighbourhood Residential, Township, Residential Growth, Mixed Use, and Housing Choice and Transport zones, a tree at least 5 metres tall with an average canopy of at least 4 metres is a canopy tree. On a vacant lot every one needs a permit to remove or lop it, native or exotic. The rule's exemptions have no row for building a house or holding a building permit. A tree assessed as part of a planning permit application for the dwelling is the exception, but most single houses on lots of 300 m² or more don't need a planning permit, so ask council how it applies to yours. A canopy tree application can go through VicSmart. The canopy tree rule section of our permits guide covers measuring and the exemptions. Low Density Residential, Rural Living and Farming zones aren't covered by this rule.

Overlays

A Vegetation Protection Overlay needs a permit for the vegetation its schedule lists, and it has no small-block exemption. Environmental Significance and Significant Landscape overlays can also protect vegetation, and the Heritage Overlay does where its schedule turns tree controls on. Your VicPlan report lists any that apply.

Planted trees, regrowth less than 10 years old on lawfully cleared land, and slashing native grass for maintenance each have their own exemptions under the native vegetation rules, with conditions. If you're relying on one, check the wording in our permits guide or ask council's duty planner on 1300 002 642 before anyone cuts.

Clearing for a new house in the Bushfire Management Overlay

Many bush blocks around Bendigo are in the Bushfire Management Overlay (BMO), and a new house there usually needs a planning permit. The planning scheme also has a specific exemption (Clause 52.12-5): clearing "to enable the construction of a dwelling" and "create its defendable space" doesn't need a separate vegetation permit, if the land is in the BMO and a listed zone, and the clearing stays within the distance set by the bushfire attack level a building surveyor decides, or a BMO permit condition.

Greater Bendigo's two BMO schedules ask a single dwelling for defendable space "for a distance of 30 metres around the dwelling or to the property boundary, whichever is the lesser", with tree canopies "separated by at least 2 metres". Defendable space is managed, not bare: grass short, no shrubs under trees, branches lifted at least 2 metres off the ground and nothing overhanging the house. So the right trees can usually stay. Ask your building surveyor or council whether the exemption applies to your block before clearing; it doesn't apply outside the BMO.

Already living there? The 10/30 rule for existing homes is in our bushfire overlay guide.

What happens if you clear without a permit

In November 2023 the Bendigo Advertiser reported that a property company was fined $20,000 without conviction, and ordered to pay $5,671.60 of the City of Greater Bendigo's legal costs, for removing native trees, including red ironbark and yellow gum, at Junortoun without a permit. It had been tidying the land for a tenant.

Under the Planning and Environment Act, council can also issue a planning infringement notice: 5 penalty units for an individual and 10 for a company. At $209.10 a penalty unit in 2026–27, that's $1,045.50 and $2,091 by our arithmetic (5 × $209.10 and 10 × $209.10). The maximum penalties in court are far higher.

Land clearing cost in Bendigo

No Bendigo business we found publishes a price for clearing a block. The work is priced per job, because it depends on how many trees there are and how big, whether they're native, what happens to the stumps, and where the timber goes. The closest local figures are two Bendigo businesses' rates for a mini excavator with an operator, which suits stumps, trenching and light clearing rather than a treed acre:

Mini excavator with operator, Bendigo

Hourly rates published by two Bendigo plant hire businesses, checked 23 October 2026. Sandbox's homepage says its prices exclude GST; Apollo's include it. Both are small machines, and neither page offers land clearing as a service.

National land clearing price bands

A national trades marketplace's cost guide, updated 28 January 2026, checked 23 October 2026. It says its prices "are based on national averages" and doesn't state a unit (per job, per area) or whether GST, stump removal or taking the waste away are included. The same three bands appear on Airtasker's guide of 8 November 2023, so treat them as one national figure, not two.

For the trees themselves, our tree removal cost guide has published Bendigo prices by tree size, and stumps are covered in stump grinding cost. On a block, we can take the trees down, grind or leave the stumps for the excavator, and chip the branches on site. Tell us the block size, roughly how many trees and how big, which ones stay, and whether you have a permit or a VicPlan report, and we'll price it after seeing the block.

If a permit is needed, budget for it too: the native vegetation offset can add real cost, and it isn't published as a set price.

What to do with the timber and green waste

• Eaglehawk Landfill. Free domestic green waste is limited to "a single 6 x 4 caged trailer or equivalent". Loads with "tree stumps" or "branches > 200mm thick" are charged as waste, commercial green waste is $119 a tonne, and vehicles over 10 metres can't come on site. Council says the landfill "is nearly at capacity".
• Chipping or mulching on site. A cleared block makes far more than one trailer load, so chipping the branches and leaving the mulch, or splitting the logs for firewood, usually keeps the cost down.
• Burning. Council bans burning green garden waste year round, with a $200 on-the-spot fine. Burning a dry pile of wood outside the Fire Danger Period needs a free council permit on blocks under a hectare, and fire services must be told of any burn-off. Greater Bendigo's 2026–27 Fire Danger Period hadn't been declared when we checked on 23 October; last season's started on 17 November 2025.

Before the stumps come out, and protecting the trees you keep

• Underground services. Lodge a free enquiry with Before You Dig Australia (byda.com.au or its app) before stumps are dug out or ground near where pipes or cables could run. Its plans aren't an approval to dig.
• Trees staying near the house. If a permit or your design keeps a tree, fence it off before machines arrive. Roots extend well past the trunk, and the Australian Standard AS 4970:2025 (protection of trees on development sites) is what an arborist uses to set the protected root zone.

Questions about clearing a block