City of Melville council urged to implement rules to protect trees on private land
The City of Melville is the latest local government ready to impose rules on what people can do to trees on their property.
Like most local governments in Perth, Melville is grappling with the problem of declining tree cover due to pressure from residential infill as well as environmental factors such as polyphagous shothole borers and bushfires.
Despite planting more trees on public lands, the city’s overall tree cover decreased by 1.4 percent between 2016 and 2022.
On Tuesday night the council agreed to approve the development of a planning policy for trees on private land, while also introducing a plan to introduce compulsory verge tree planting on all suitable commercial property verges in the city from 2026.
But it stopped short of committing to basing its private tree policy on a policy created by the WA Local Government Association, which many other metropolitan councils have already done.
City of Cockburn council adopted a tree protection policy at its meeting the same night, but this is subject to approval by the WA Planning Commission and Planning Minister.
Melville’s policy for trees on public lands aims to encourage the preservation of mature trees while allowing “reasonable” development to proceed and ensuring that removals necessary to support the city’s canopy growth are managed.
City of Melville strategic planning manager Gavin Ponton said at a briefing on December 2 that the removal of a significant tree required planning consent and it was “indeed” confirmed that the council should have a policy.
He speculated staff may have one ready for councilors to consider early next year.
Melville Tree Canopy Defenders convener Esther Cole said at the briefing that about 45 percent of the city’s canopy is on private land and is vulnerable.
“Melville can get past 20 percent canopy cover without buying new land or starting programs, but only if the mature private land trees we already have survive,” he said.
“Without protection, the city will need to allocate funds to maintain the current canopy line, which is well below the 30 percent recommended by the World Health Organization.”
He said seven WA councils had adopted the protection of trees on private land and three had made progress on the issue.
“Education and incentives are important, but will not prevent the steady removal of canopy on private lands. Without regulation, Melville will continue to be left behind,” he said.
“Both State and local governments already regulate private property for health, safety, comfort, neighbor protection and heritage. Significant trees are at the heart of this.”
Cr Clive Ross attempted to ask Ms Cole what her stance was on the possibility of trees being removed from public land, but mayor Katy Mair said this was invalid.
Annual general constituency meetings in 2024 and 2025 both voted for the council to adopt a tree retention policy developed by the WA Local Government Association.
Cr Karen Wheatland said basing Melville’s policy on WALGA’s policy would ensure trees were protected in a “structured, fair and practical way”.
But Cr Clive Ross said it had not been robustly checked whether the “outside the rules” policy was suitable for Melville.
The council has held workshops on the subject throughout this and last year.
The proposed policy for trees on city-managed lands would allow residents to opt out of having trees planted at the edge of their properties.
Ms Cole also thanked the city for moving three established melaleuca trees from the library in the town hall square to the new Esplanade Park in Mt Pleasant.
