Update: Thank you for your submission. The consultation period is now closed. The outcomes of the consultation will be reported to a future Council meeting.

Background

The current Georges River Tree Management Policy (the Policy) came into effect in April 2019 and provides the Georges River local government area (LGA) with a comprehensive framework for the management of trees on both private and public land. Since then, Council has adopted a 40% urban canopy cover target. Accordingly, the existing Policy is required to be updated with a renewed focus on the enhancement and management of trees to prioritise the delivery of this canopy target.

Council at its meeting dated 27 November 2023 resolved to publicly exhibit the draft revised Tree Management Policy, an amendment to the Georges River Council 2023/24 Schedule of Fees and Charges and draft amendment No.6 to the Georges River Development Control Plan (GRDCP) 2021.

What are the changes?

Changes in relation to tree management are proposed to three Council documents - the Tree Management Policy, Schedule of Fees and Charges and the Georges River Development Control Plan 2021.

Tree Management Policy

Overall, the content of the existing Policy remains substantially unchanged in the revised Policy. The revised Policy has been drafted with a renewed focus on the enhancement and management of trees to facilitate the delivery of the adopted canopy target. Equal significance is placed upon both private and public trees as Council cannot meet its canopy target by increasing canopy cover on public land alone.

The revised Policy also contains extensive reorganisation of its structure to clearly delineate the management of private trees from public trees as the existing Policy has been reported to lack user-friendliness, especially for the general community. Other notable changes include:

• Amending the definition of a 'tree' to define the diameter as 100mm when measured at ground level instead of the existing definition of circumference when measured at 450mm above ground,
• Retaining the existing 2:1 replacement ratio for approved tree removal, but inserting some flexibility for Council officers to reduce the replacement ratio where a property needs tree removal to address overcrowding issues.
• Clarifying the offset fee for replacement trees is not an option which can be selected by the landowner and must first be offered by Council where a replacement tree on the site is not possible,
• Outlining the process for collecting the offset fee, which is through a Deed of Agreement between Council and the landowner prior to the issue of approval for tree removal.
• Replacing the Thyer Evaluation Method (which has been developed for public trees) with the STARS Method developed by the Institute of Australian Consulting Arboriculturists to determine the offset fee for replacement trees on private land, and
• Inserting a chapter to give effect to Council's Significant Tree Register.

The draft revised Tree Management Policy can be in the Document Library. A comprehensive list of the proposed changes to the Tree Management Policy is provided here.

Council's Schedule of Fees and Charges

To support the revised Policy, Council's 2023/24 Schedule of Fees and Charges is proposed to be updated to reflect the proposed change is evaluation methodology for the replacement fee for tress on private land. In addition, two administrative changes are proposed to clarify the application fee for a tree permit for trees in public land and to insert a 50% discount for pensioners. All offset fees collected will be dedicated to the planting and maintenance of public trees.

The proposed amendments to the Fees and Changes are detailed here.

Amendment No.6 to the GRDCP 2021

A Development Control Plan (DCP) provides planning and design guidelines for the design and assessment of proposed development to support the planning controls in the Local Environmental Plan (LEP).

Existing shortfalls in relation to tree management have been identified within the Georges River Development Control Plan (GRDCP) 2021. Accordingly, an amendment to the GRDCP (known as Amendment No.6) is proposed to accompany the revision of the Tree Management Policy to address the below issues:

• Development sites with no existing trees are not required to provide new trees,
• The legal enforceability of the Policy is ambiguous when prosecution is required for tree vandalism,
• There is limited guidance to encourage and support the retention of existing trees when new developments are proposed, and
• There is limited guidance concerning the protection of trees adjoining a development site.

Amendment No.6 to the GRDCP also contains a housekeeping amendment to clarify the required setback of detached dual occupancy developments which was accidentally omitted by the Housekeeping Amendment to the GRDCP.

A list of the amendments proposed by Amendment No.6 to the GRDCP is provided here. Each individual amended chapter of the GRDCP is available in the Document Library.

How to be involved

The draft revised Tree Management Policy, the draft amendments to the Schedule of Fees and Charges and draft Amendment No.6 to the GRDCP 2021 will be on public exhibition from Wednesday 31 January – Friday 1 March 2024, and are available for viewing under the Document Library on the right side of this page.

	Complete our online feedback form, or
	Return a hard copy submission.

If you are returning a hard copy submission, please quote SF23/7130 at the beginning of your submission and return:

	In person to Georges River Council Civic Centre or Libraries
	Via email: mail@georgesriver.nsw.gov.au
	Via post: PO Box 205, Hurstville BC NSW 1481

The closing date for submissions is Friday 1 March 2023.

Any submissions received are considered public, however, a person may request to have their personal details suppressed. If you make a submission and have made political donations or gifts, a political donations and gifts disclosure statement must be completed. This form is available on Council’s website by clicking on the ‘Find a form’ icon.

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