Heritage Tree Preservation and Management
Trees provide soil stability, shade and shelter that are considered necessary in this climate. They are the basis for the retention and restoration of our dwindling wildlife and environment and create much of the oxygen needed by man.
Council has placed a tree preservation order on trees situated within various Heritage Conservation Areas throughout the Bathurst Region, including a number of villages. The Tree Preservation and Management Policy aims to protect, preserve, manage and enhance the environmental amenity, special landscape characteristics and the ecological values of trees within Heritage Conservation Areas of the Bathurst Regional Local Government Area (LGA).
Within the defined Heritage Conservation Areas, a person must not ringbark, cut down, top, lop, remove, injure or wilfully destroy any Prescribed Tree to which section 13.2 of the Bathurst Regional Development Control Plan 2014 applies, without development consent or a permit being granted by Council.
Areas where Council's Tree Preservation and Management Policy apply are all Heritage Items as listed under Schedule 5 of the Bathurst Regional Local Environmental Plan 2014:-
- Bathurst/West Bathurst Heritage Conservation Area
- Evans Plains Heritage Conservation Area
- Hill End Heritage Conservation Area
- Kelso Heritage Conservation Area
- Peel Heritage Conservation Area
- Perthville Heritage Conservation Area
- Rockley Heritage Conservation Area
- Sofala Heritage Conservation Area
- Trunkey Creek Heritage Conservation Area
- Wattle Flat Heritage Conservation Area
Prescribed Trees located within Heritage listed sites or Heritage Conservation Areas that are protected under Council's Tree Preservation & Management Policy and require an application form to be submitted to Council includes trees that are:-
a) Greater than nine (9) metres in height; or
b) Have a stem diameter of one (1) metre or more at a height of one (1) metre from the ground; or
c) Have a branch spread of fifteen (15) metres or more; or
d) Is not an exempt tree.
Exempt trees that are located within Heritage listed sites or Heritage Conservation Areas that do not require Council approval for works to be undertaken, however do require lodgement of an Exempt Notification Form if greater than 9 meters in height. These include:-
| BOTANICAL NAME |
COMMON NAME |
BOTANICAL NAME |
COMMON NAME |
| Eucalyptus nicholii |
Narrow Leaved Black Peppermint |
Acacia Spp |
Wattles |
| Salix |
Willow |
x Cupressocyparis leylandii |
Leylandii Pines (all varieties) |
| Ligustrum lucidum |
Privet |
Robinia pseudoacacia |
Robinia |
| Gleditsia tracanthus |
Locust |
Populus Spp |
Poplars |
The following links contain the associated documents, application forms, heritage locations and flow charts relating to the Council's Tree Preservation and Management Policy.
Should residents wish to carry out any work on trees that are protected, the property owner must complete and submit Council's Tree Permit Application Form and pay the appropriate fee.
Residents are advised that there is a waiting period of at least 10 working days following the receipt of a Tree Permit Application, prior to Council's inspection of the site.