The short answer: often, yes. In the Otways, three layers of rules can apply to the same tree: the state’s native vegetation rules, local overlays on your property, and (on town blocks) the new canopy tree rules. There are useful exemptions, but each one has conditions. Check with council before any work is booked.
1. Native vegetation — most of the region
Across Victoria, you generally need a permit to remove, destroy or lop native vegetation, and that includes dead native vegetation. Colac Otway Shire says most vegetation in the shire is protected, so a permit is likely for native trees.
The main exemptions each come with conditions:
- Small properties — land under 0.4 hectares (including neighbouring land in the same ownership). Roadsides aren’t covered, and overlays can still apply.
- Dead vegetation — but standing dead trees with a trunk 40 cm or more across (at 1.3 m high) still need a permit.
- Planted vegetation — trees you or a previous owner planted, unless it was a publicly funded biodiversity planting.
- Maintenance pruning — up to one-third of each plant, without cutting the trunk, and not on roadsides.
- Near older buildings — within 10 metres of a building approved before 15 September 2008, only as much as its use and maintenance needs.
- Immediate risk — only the part of a tree posing an immediate risk of injury or damage.
- Fence lines — clearing along a boundary fence, up to 4 metres in combined width.
2. Overlays on your property
Many Otways properties carry overlays with their own vegetation rules — sometimes covering exotic trees too. Some examples:
- Birregurra Tree Protection Area — a permit is needed for most trees, native or exotic, with exemptions for small trees and for pruning for health or safety.
- Skenes Creek, Kennett River, Wye River and Separation Creek — a landscape overlay requires a permit to remove or lop a tree. Small trunks (under 0.5 m around at 1 m high), dead or dying trees, and pruning for regrowth or shaping are exempt.
- Apollo Bay landscape areas — a permit is needed for native vegetation; dead vegetation and pruning up to 20% of a plant are exempt.
- Landslip areas — much of the Otway Ranges, the Great Ocean Road coast and farmland around Forrest and Gellibrand is in an erosion management overlay, where removing any vegetation generally needs a permit. Limited exemptions apply, some only if the ground surface is reinstated.
- Lorne (Surf Coast Shire) — a permit is generally needed to remove or lop native vegetation, except where it’s dead, under 3 metres tall, within 2 metres of a roof edge, or a listed weed.
- Camperdown (Corangamite Shire) — a permit is needed for native vegetation, including dead vegetation, unless an exemption applies.
To see which overlays apply to your block, search your address on VicPlan and look at the planning property report.
3. Canopy trees on town blocks — changed 24 September 2026
Since September 2025, larger trees on residential and township land have had their own rules (Clause 52.37). They apply in residential and township zones, not in rural or low-density zones. The definition changed on 24 September 2026:
- A canopy tree is now a tree at least 5 metres tall with an average canopy at least 4 metres wide. (The old trunk-circumference test no longer applies.)
- On a lot with a house, only boundary canopy trees need a permit: those with a trunk within 6 metres of the narrowest street frontage, or within 4.5 metres of the rear boundary.
- Exempt: dead trees; the part of a tree posing an immediate risk; pruning up to one-third of the foliage (no trunk cuts, and the tree must stay at least 5 m tall with a 4 m canopy); declared noxious or listed environmental weeds; and powerline clearance under the line clearance rules.
- Applications go through the faster VicSmart process. If you want to remove a tree because of its health or stability, it needs to be assessed by a suitably qualified person.
4. Bushfire exemptions
- The 10/30 rule — in a designated bushfire prone area, for a home built or approved before 10 September 2009: you may clear any vegetation, including trees, within 10 metres of the home, and any vegetation except trees within 30 metres.
- The 10/50 rule — in the Bushfire Management Overlay: vegetation other than trees within 50 metres of an eligible home, as well as vegetation including trees within 10 metres. The date tests differ slightly from the 10/30 rule.
- Boundary fences — in a bushfire prone area, for a fence built before 10 September 2009 between properties with different owners: clearing up to 4 metres in combined width across both sides.
These exemptions apply only on your own land — you need your neighbour’s written permission to clear on theirs, and the land manager’s consent on roadsides or public land. CFA explains the details. Getting ready for summer? Our fire-prep guide covers the tree jobs to do first.
5. Where we fit in
When we look at a job, we’ll tell you if we think a permit is likely and point you to the right council. We don’t lodge permit applications or write the formal arborist reports some applications need — those come from consulting arborists. And approval is always the council’s decision, not ours.
Who to call
- Colac Otway Shire — 03 5232 9400 (Colac, Birregurra, Apollo Bay, Skenes Creek, Wye River, Forrest and the ranges)
- Surf Coast Shire — 03 5261 0600 (Lorne, Winchelsea)
- Corangamite Shire (Camperdown) — native vegetation fact sheet
Please note: this is a plain-English summary to help you ask the right questions. It isn’t legal or planning advice, and the rules change. Always confirm with your council before work starts. Sources: Colac Otway Planning Scheme Clauses 52.17, 52.37 and 52.12 and local overlays; Surf Coast Planning Scheme; council and CFA guidance.