Tree removal and lopping in Strathfieldsaye

Council's October 2024 Managed Growth Strategy says Strathfieldsaye has added "over 200 new residents and around 80 more dwellings" each year, with growth running faster between 2016 and 2021. Bendigo Tree Removal removes, prunes and grinds out trees right across the suburb, from new estate gardens off Strathfieldsaye Road to rural living blocks on the national park edge.

In the 2021 Census, virtually every occupied home in Strathfieldsaye was a separate house, and about two in three had four or more bedrooms. Big houses on land that still carries remnant bush and large native gums mean most jobs here start with the planning map, not the chainsaw.

Wildlife corridor and native vegetation permits

By our calculation from the Victorian Government's planning map data, about 56 hectares of Strathfieldsaye is in VPO1, the wildlife corridor schedule of the Vegetation Protection Overlay. Of the four east Bendigo suburbs we mapped (Strathfieldsaye, Junortoun, Axedale and Strathdale), it is the only one with VPO1. The schedule's statement of significance says "A distinctive feature of these areas is the abundance of large trees that provide numerous hollows", and its permit rule is short: "A permit is required to remove, destroy or lop any native vegetation."

A larger share, about 384 hectares or 13% of the suburb, is in VPO2. It also requires a permit to remove, destroy or lop native vegetation, exempting only two named sites elsewhere in Greater Bendigo. Neither overlay makes an exception for a small block.

Along the creeks, about 7% of the suburb is in ESO1, the waterway protection overlay. One of its decision guidelines asks "Whether the siting of buildings may create a future demand for tree lopping or removal." If your tree is inside ESO1, ask council what applies to it; we'll check the answer with you before we quote the work.

Big native trees in a growing suburb

Council has written Strathfieldsaye's big trees into the design overlays that guide development. At the town entrances, DDO29 describes "a low scale residential area in a bushland and spacious setting, where large native trees dominate the streetscape". It asks for setbacks of at least 9 metres to Strathfieldsaye Road and Wellington Street, and says "Development should protect existing mature trees in the front setback and have a strong focus on native tree planting."

On the large unsewered lots, DDO24 says buildings and wastewater systems "should be located in cleared areas to minimise the loss of native vegetation". If you're building or subdividing, read your permit conditions for trees before anything is removed.

Living beside Greater Bendigo National Park

By our calculation, about 744 hectares of Greater Bendigo National Park lies inside Strathfieldsaye, roughly a quarter of the suburb. Parks Victoria says "The park protects an area of high-quality Box-Ironbark forest, as well as broombush mallee, grassy woodlands and Kamarooka mallee." A park tree over your back fence is a question for Parks Victoria, not for us.

By the same calculation, about 96% of Strathfieldsaye is a designated bushfire prone area and about half is in the Bushfire Management Overlay.

The Clause 52.12 bushfire exemptions let you remove or lop trees within 10 metres of a home without a planning permit, but only where the home is in the bushfire prone area and was built, or approved, before 10 September 2009. Further out, they cover vegetation other than trees, except along an eligible boundary fence. With around 80 new dwellings a year, many Strathfieldsaye homes postdate that cut-off, so check the date before relying on the exemption.

Creeks, flood overlays and heritage places

Council's Strathfieldsaye Township Plan, adopted in 2012, describes the town as lying "in the valley of the Axe, Emu and Sheepwash Creeks", with Sheepwash and Emu creeks the main waterways through it. By our calculation, about 6% of the suburb is in the Land Subject to Inundation Overlay, in two schedules gazetted in April 2018: flooding from waterways up to 350 millimetres deep, and deeper than that.

Strathfieldsaye has seven places in the Heritage Overlay, among them the former Shire Hall and the Methodist Church. The overlay schedule applies tree controls to none of the seven, though the other overlays above can still apply.

Council's June 2024 submission to a federal inquiry names Strathfieldsaye among the areas where homes were affected in the 7 and 8 January 2024 rain event. If a limb comes down on a powerline, keep well back and call Powercor. For a tree across the roof or driveway, see storm damage and fallen trees.

Where Strathfieldsaye green waste goes

The recycling centre in the suburb doesn't take garden waste. Council's recycling centres page says it plainly: "No green waste at Strathfieldsaye Transfer Station." Domestic green waste goes to Eaglehawk Landfill instead, up to a single 6 x 4 caged trailer or the equivalent. Loads with tree stumps or branches thicker than 200 mm are charged as waste, and burning off garden waste in the open or in a backyard incinerator is banned all year.

For a removal, cleaning up the site is part of our job. For bigger limbs you'd rather not cut yourself, see tree lopping and pruning.

What we do in Strathfieldsaye

• 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 Strathfieldsaye

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 Junortoun
• Tree removal in Strathdale
• Tree removal in Kennington
• Tree removal in Spring Gully
• Tree removal in Flora Hill
• Tree removal in Axedale
• Tree removal in Bendigo

Common questions