Melbourne’s leafiest suburbs revealed — but overall tree cover falls behind Sydney, Brisbane

The city’s greenest and leafiest suburbs have been revealed — but the majority of Melburnians live in a locale with insufficient tree cover.

Mt Macedon is one of Victoria’s leafiest locales. Picture: Jay Town

Victoria may be the garden state, but the leafiness of some Melbourne suburbs leaves a lot to be desired.

A new report shows Melbourne falling behind Sydney, Brisbane and Hobart when it comes to the level of tree cover in populated areas.

Only 30 per cent of Greater Melbourne residents live in suburbs with more than 20 per cent tree cover, says research by aerial imagery and location intelligence outfit Nearmap.

Analysing 5000 suburbs nationwide, Nearmap had Brisbane tops with 79 per cent of residents enjoying at least 20 per cent tree cover, then Hobart with 71 per cent, Darwin (66 per cent), ACT (58 per cent) and Greater Sydney (44 per cent).

Nearmap CEO Dr Rob Newman said the consistency and national coverage of the data for the first time gave a solid picture of the density of urban forests, property development and population distribution.

Nearmap’s aerial image of tree cover in Emerald.

An analysis of tree cover in Emerald.

“Nearmap provides high-resolution aerial imagery and location insights over time that put in perspective the balance between built and natural environments as cities continue to sprawl,” he said.

Across Melbourne, Olinda in the Dandenong Ranges had the most tree cover with 71 per cent, then North Warrandyte (64 per cent), Mt Macedon (60 per cent), Emerald (53 per cent).

Among more populated suburbs Blackburn recorded 28 per cent tree cover, Toorak (24 per cent), Beaumaris (23 per cent) and Seddon (13 per cent).

Environmental geographer with the University of WA, Dr Bryan Boruff, said research showed the more greenery a residential area had, the better it was for the physical and mental health of people.

“Increasing the number of trees in a local suburb might seem trivial. But the impact – in terms of health, liveability, and wellbeing – on local communities can be significant, and evolves over time,” he said.

Warrandyte has the most tree cover in Melbourne’s northeast.

The suburb has 64 per cent tree cover.

Former federal MP Kelvin Thomson, who now heads residents’ pressure group Planning Democracy, said the removal of tree canopy cover had led to the creation of urban heat islands.

“We have cities like Melbourne now anything from four to 10C hotter than non-urban areas,” he said.

“The state government and various councils have ‘urban forest’ policies, which aim to protect and increase our tree canopy cover.”

“But in reality they are allowing ever more density and the bulldozing of trees, particularly on private land.”

This week, Planning Democracy and other groups protested against the City of Melbourne’s removal of several trees in Fawkner Park as part of the park’s upgrade.

The council said it would plant more trees to compensate.