Tree removal in Chum Creek
Chum Creek is farm and bush country north of Healesville, all of it in the bushfire overlay. The fire rules come first here.
We connect you with a local arborist who works in the Yarra Valley.
Ask for a quoteMount Donna Buang, above Warburton. Photo: MDRX, CC BY-SA 4.0
The rule in Chum Creek
Every one of the 253 points we sampled in Chum Creek was in a Bushfire Prone Area and under the Bushfire Management Overlay. SLO6 covered 232 of them. Together they set two tests for a tree near the house:
- 4 m
- SLO6 doesn't apply within 4 m of a building. Further out, native vegetation of any size and trees over 1.1 m around need its permit.
- 10 m
- The bushfire rule overrides SLO6 around a house built or approved before 10 September 2009: trees to 10 m, other vegetation to 30 m, and, in the overlay, other vegetation to 50 m if the house meets that rule's dates. The conditions.
SLO6 has no regrowth exemption. ESO1, at 195 points, keeps a permit for any standing dead tree more than 1.3 m around.
Get a free property report from VicPlan to see which overlays cover your block.
Checked 23 October 2026 against Yarra Ranges Planning Scheme, Schedule 6 to Clause 42.03 (SLO6), Victoria Planning Provisions, Clause 52.12 (bushfire protection exemptions) and Yarra Ranges Planning Scheme, Schedule 1 to Clause 42.01 (ESO1).
2009
On Black Saturday the fire front turned northeast through Kinglake, Steels Creek, Dixons Creek and Chum Creek. If a fire leaves a tree near the house dead or damaged, the answer depends on the overlay. SLO6 alone lets dead vegetation go, but under ESO1 a large standing dead tree still needs one. Only the part of a tree that is an immediate danger may come down without a permit in the meantime.
Checked 23 October 2026 against Wikipedia: Black Saturday bushfires, Yarra Ranges Planning Scheme, Schedule 1 to Clause 42.01 (ESO1) and Victoria Planning Provisions, Clause 42.03 (Significant Landscape Overlay).
Steep ground and old subdivisions
An erosion overlay came up at 51 points, most of it on the Rural Conservation land. Its permit covers any vegetation except a tree 50 cm or less around, anything within 2 m of a building, dead vegetation with the ground reinstated, and lopping for a tree's health.
A few points were under a Restructure Overlay, which covers old subdivisions where a house may not be allowed on every lot. It needs a permit to build or subdivide, not to remove a tree.
Checked 23 October 2026 against Yarra Ranges Planning Scheme, Schedule to Clause 44.01 (EMO), Victoria Planning Provisions, Clause 45.05 (Restructure Overlay) and Victoria Planning Provisions, Clause 62.02 (buildings and works not requiring a permit).
Gold, then timber, then farms
Gold was found in the creek in the mid-1850s. A sawmill opened in 1891, and the next year the land was surveyed for selections, so the tree cutting gave way to clearing and farming. The primary school opened in 1897 and still runs; it carries heritage tree controls.
Checked 23 October 2026 against Wikipedia: Chum Creek, Victoria and Yarra Ranges Planning Scheme, Schedule to Clause 43.01 (Heritage Overlay).
The rule next door
- Healesville
- SLO22 on the town's house blocks; SLO6 on the farms around it.
- Dixons Creek
- The same SLO6 country, and the same 2009 fire.
Checked 23 October 2026 against Yarra Ranges Planning Scheme, Schedule 22 to Clause 42.03 (SLO22) and Yarra Ranges Planning Scheme, Schedule 6 to Clause 42.03 (SLO6).
Ask for a quote
Tell us where you are and what needs doing. We pass it to a local arborist who works in the Yarra Valley. They ring you back to talk about the job.