Trees play an important role in our urban environment and provide many benefits to our community, including:
- providing valuable shade
- cooling effects during warmer seasons
- adding value to the landscape and surrounding properties
- providing food and habitat for local wildlife
- instilling a sense of community pride and identity
- Unlawfully destroying, cutting, trimming, pruning, or otherwise interfering with trees in public space is an offence Council’s General Local Law 2018.
If you would like to report tree vandalism, please call us on 03 9249 4000 from Monday to Friday between 8:45am and 5pm. Calls made outside of opening hours will be directed to our after hours service.
It is important to call straight away if you observe destructive action taking place as an officer can attend the site quickly to speak with anyone involved. It’s better to report than to assume that the activity, either on private or public land, has Council approval.
In order to secure an infringement, we require the following information:
- Location illegal works is being conducted
- Approximate time of the vandalism
- A witness to the alleged incident
- If possible and safe to do so; Photographic/ video evidence of company name/ vehicle description.
All reported tree vandalism will be investigated by our local laws team. Where we find that a person has breached the local law, an infringement notice per affected tree will be issued.