Land and block clearing in the Yarra Valley

Regrowth: SLO2 and SLO6 differ

A paddock that isn't grazed or slashed fills up with regrowth. Whether you can clear it without a permit depends on which overlay the paddock is under, and the two farm overlays answer differently.

SLO2, the open river flats

Regrowth that came up naturally on land lawfully cleared of native vegetation, and is less than 10 years old, can go without the overlay's permit. Not where the land was cleared by a flood, a fire or another natural disaster.

SLO6, the rolling hills and farmland

No regrowth exemption. Native vegetation of any size needs SLO6's permit, young regrowth included, unless another exemption fits.

The state's rule, under both

Clause 52.17 is a separate test. It exempts regrowth under 10 years on lawfully cleared land, bracken at any age, and any land under 0.4 ha with the land next to it that you own. SLO6 describes its farm lots as mostly 10 to 20 ha, so the 0.4 ha exemption rarely reaches them.

Native vegetation in the planning scheme means plants indigenous to Victoria: trees, shrubs, herbs and grasses. Clearing native scrub is clearing native vegetation.

Checked 23 October 2026 against Yarra Ranges Planning Scheme, Schedule 2 to Clause 42.03 (SLO2), Yarra Ranges Planning Scheme, Schedule 6 to Clause 42.03 (SLO6), Victoria Planning Provisions, Clause 52.17 (native vegetation) and Victoria Planning Provisions, Clause 73.01 (general terms).

Old windrows and woodlots

SLO2 and SLO6 both let planted windrows, woodlots and landscaping come out without a permit when the work follows a property management plan the council has accepted. Without a plan, a windrow is trees like any other, and each tree's size and kind decide it.

Checked 23 October 2026 against Yarra Ranges Planning Scheme, Schedule 6 to Clause 42.03 (SLO6) and Yarra Ranges Planning Scheme, Schedule 2 to Clause 42.03 (SLO2).

Blackberry

Blackberry is a declared noxious weed across the Port Phillip and Western Port catchment, which takes in the whole Yarra, and the landowner has to control it. No overlay permit is needed to remove a declared noxious weed, and Yarra Ranges' overlays also exempt the species on the council's environmental weeds list.

It comes back from the crown, so expect a second visit, and a third.

Checked 23 October 2026 against Agriculture Victoria: blackberry, Victoria Planning Provisions, Clause 42.03 (Significant Landscape Overlay), Victoria Planning Provisions, Clause 42.01 (Environmental Significance Overlay) and Yarra Ranges Planning Scheme, Schedule 6 to Clause 42.03 (SLO6).

Before fire season

On Black Saturday, 7 February 2009, the fire front ran through Steels Creek, Dixons Creek and Chum Creek. Yarra Glen was surrounded on three sides, and houses just north of the town were lost.

In a Bushfire Prone Area, around a house built or approved before 10 September 2009, the state's 10/30 rule lets you clear vegetation other than trees out to 30 m, whatever the overlays say. If the house is in the Bushfire Management Overlay that reaches 50 m. Along a boundary fence you can clear to a combined 4 m across both sides. Every condition is on the 10/30 page.

Checked 23 October 2026 against Wikipedia: Black Saturday bushfires and Victoria Planning Provisions, Clause 52.12 (bushfire protection exemptions).

Burn the pile, or chip it

During the Fire Danger Period the CFA sets for Yarra Ranges, burning off needs a permit. Outside it, the council's local law applies: every property is urban, bushland or rural by address, each with its own rules, and the council asks for every burn to be registered.

Chipping on site avoids all of that. The mulch stays on the block, and nothing is burnt or trucked out.

Checked 23 October 2026 against CFA: burning off and Yarra Ranges Council: burning off.

Describing the job

Give a local arborist the rough area, what is growing on it, how a machine gets in, and whether the material is to be chipped and left or taken away. A few photos from different corners do more than a paragraph. Your property report tells you, and them, which overlays are in play.