Whitehorse Council wants tree protection overlay on every property in city

EVERY tree across parts of Melbourne’s east would be protected under a radical council plan to try and prevent blocks being cleared by developers.

Whitehorse Council is concerned about blocks being “moonscaped” and wants to extend protection for trees.

WHITEHORSE Council wants to extend tree protection overlays across every property in the city.

And they want rogue developers to potentially face fines of more than $1 million, or even jail, for illegally axing trees and turning a block of land into a “moonscape”.

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Mayor Denise Massoud wants the State Government to provide stronger protection for trees and harsher penalties for breaking regulations.

According to Cr Massoud, Victoria’s penalties for illegally removing trees were nowhere near as strong as NSW, where fines of up to $1.1 million could be issued and criminal convictions recorded. Developers even face potential jail time.

“At the moment, we can’t apply a fine of more than $2000 per tree if it has been illegally removed,” Cr Massoud said. “We are calling for the State Government to review the current NSW penalty model, as a comparison, and to then define and apply.”

Cr Massoud has the backing of other councils after she put a motion forward at a meeting of the Municipal Association of Victoria for stronger tree protection laws.

A developer has cleared all the trees off this Blackburn South block.

It comes after a developer legally cut down every tree at a Holland Rd site in Blackburn South days after losing a Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal appeal to build a Starfish Early Learning childcare centre there.

Cr Massoud said the moonscaping of the Holland Rd site was a good example of why changes were needed.

Whitehorse city development manager Jeff Green said the council would soon seek authorisation from state Planning Minister Richard Wynne to consult with the public about extending the significant landscape overlay.