Tree removal and lopping in Huntly

Greater Bendigo National Park takes in about 505 hectares of Huntly, by our calculation, along with parts of Bendigo Regional Park and the Huntly Streamside Reserve on Bendigo Creek. Bendigo Tree Removal removes, prunes and clears trees on Huntly properties, from the growth area east of the Midland Highway to the large lots beside the bush.

Every occupied home counted in Huntly at the 2021 Census was a separate house, 53% were owned with a mortgage, and households averaged 2.9 people. More homes are coming: council's Managed Growth Strategy identifies further growth for Huntly, and a Huntly Structure Plan is being prepared.

Nearly all of Huntly is bushfire prone

By our calculation, about 99% of Huntly is designated bushfire prone. The Bushfire Management Overlay also covers about 46% of the suburb, including about 18% of its residential land. So for almost every Huntly home, the Clause 52.12 exemptions turn on one thing: when the house was built or approved.

• Within 10 metres of a house that predates 10 September 2009, by construction or by permit, any vegetation, trees included, can be cleared without a planning permit.
• Between 10 and 30 metres, stretching to 50 metres where the overlay applies, only non-tree vegetation is exempt. Along an eligible boundary fence, a strip of up to 4 metres combined, trees included, is also exempt.
• Homes on the township plan estates, on land rezoned in 2011, will generally have been built after the cut-off, so the exemptions don't cover them. A tree near one of those houses needs the permit question checked.

Keeping Huntly trees clear of powerlines

In reported news, the Bendigo Advertiser (6 January 2020) said a tree bringing down power lines started a fire in Huntly on 4 January 2020, during a wind change. The fire burned more than 100 hectares beside Bendigo Creek, and the paper reported that no structures or stock were lost.

Who deals with a tree near a line depends on which line it is:

• Powercor's lines. Powercor, the distributor for Bendigo, lets only workers it has authorised trim trees inside the No Go Zone around its powerlines, and it handles that clearance at no cost to you. We don't cut inside the zone. To remove a tree within it, you ask Powercor, which quotes for the work.
• Your service line. If a tree is on your property, keeping it clear of the service line to your house is your responsibility, according to Energy Safe Victoria, which says to keep trees and shrubs at least one metre from the line. Don't cut near the line yourself: use a contractor qualified to work near service lines, or ask Powercor first.
• A line that's down. Energy Safe Victoria says to keep at least 8 to 10 metres away from a fallen powerline. Report it to Powercor and let no one near it.

Growth estates, the vegetation plan and the bush

Huntly's new housing is planned. By our calculation, Schedule 25 to the Development Plan Overlay, the Huntly Township Plan New Development Area, covers about 244 hectares, and it requires a development plan to include "The provision of appropriate arrangements for the preservation or regeneration of existing vegetation and the creation of habitat links between areas of preserved vegetation." The planning scheme also lists a Huntly Township Plan Native Vegetation Precinct Plan dated September 2010.

If your block is in the township plan area, that precinct plan can affect which native trees are meant to stay. We don't guess at it: ask council how it applies to your lot, or check the plan, before a native tree on a Huntly estate comes down.

In the south-east, about 33 hectares of large low-density lots are under Schedule 5 to the Environmental Significance Overlay, titled Protection of Remnant Vegetation. It says: "A permit is not required to remove, destroy or lop vegetation, including dead vegetation, which is not native to Victoria." On those lots, the overlay leaves exotic trees alone and keeps its permit requirement for native ones.

A dead limb over a shed or driveway on a big Huntly block is worth dealing with before it drops. We take limbs off in sections from an elevated work platform or on ropes, lower them clear of the roof, and ask about permits with you first. See tree lopping and pruning.

What we do in Huntly

• Tree removal: whole trees taken down in sections, with the stump ground and the site cleaned up.
• Tree lopping and pruning: branches cut back off roofs, gutters and fences, to a proper branch point.
• Stump grinding: stumps ground below the surface so the spot can be levelled or replanted.
• Storm damage and fallen trees: trees and limbs down across a roof, fence or driveway.

Before a tree comes down in Huntly

Whether a tree needs a permit depends on the property, not just the suburb: the overlays on your block, the native vegetation rules and whether it's a council tree. Check your planning property report on VicPlan, or ask the City of Greater Bendigo. Our guide to tree removal permits in Bendigo sets out each rule.

Nearby suburbs

• Tree removal in Epsom
• Tree removal in Ascot
• Tree removal in Eaglehawk
• Tree removal in Bendigo

Common questions