New South Wales Consolidated Regulations

WILLOUGHBY LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL PLAN 1995 - REG 13C

13C Tree and bushland preservation order

(1) The objective of this clause is the preservation and management of trees and bushland vegetation within the City of Willoughby.

(2) Where it appears to the Council that it is expedient for the purpose of securing amenity or of preserving existing amenity or of preserving or securing trees and bushland vegetation in order to ensure the integrity of the natural environment for both residents of and visitors to the City of Willoughby, it may, for that purpose and by resolution, make a tree and bushland preservation order and may, by like resolution, repeal or amend any such order.

(3) A tree and bushland preservation order must specify, by characteristics, location, species, type, class or other identifying criteria set out in the order, the trees or bushland vegetation covered by the order.

(4) A tree and bushland preservation order may specify, by characteristics, location, species, type, class or other identifying criteria set out in the order, any trees or bushland vegetation as exempt from being covered by the order.

(5) A tree and bushland preservation order, and an amendment or repeal of any such order, has effect only when it has been published in the Gazette and in a local newspaper.

(6) The Council must establish and maintain a register of all tree and bushland preservation orders made, repealed or amended by the Council after the commencement of this clause and must record in the register the date of the relevant resolution, the dates of the publication of the order in the Gazette and the local newspaper under subclause (5), and the terms of the order as made, repealed or amended as the case may be.

(7) The Council may add to the register established under subclause (6) any information it possesses in respect of tree preservation orders made before the commencement of this clause.

(8) While a tree and bushland preservation order is in force, a person must not ringbark, cut down, top, lop, prune, remove, injure or wilfully destroy any tree or bushland vegetation covered by the order without development consent.

(9) Subclause (8) does not apply where:

(a) the trees or bushland vegetation concerned are dealt with in accordance with a permit granted by the Council, or

(b) the trees or bushland vegetation concerned are dying or dead or have become dangerous, or

(c) the action taken is reasonably necessary to protect human life, buildings or other property from imminent danger from a bush fire burning in the vicinity of the land on which the trees or bushland vegetation are situated, or

(d) written notice is given to the Council, the action proposed in the notice is the removal of trees or bushland vegetation that pose a fire hazard, the Council confirms in writing before the action is taken:

(i) that the trees or bushland vegetation concerned are in an Inner Protection Area within the meaning of the document entitled Planning for Bush Fire Protection , ISBN 0 9751033 2 6, prepared by the NSW Rural Fire Service in co-operation with the Department of Planning, dated December 2006, or

(ii) that the species of trees or the type of bushland vegetation concerned is a species or type, as the case may be, classified by the Council as being likely to present a significant fire hazard,

and the action taken is the action proposed in the notice and is taken for the purpose of bush fire hazard reduction, or

(e) written notice is given to the Council, a period of not less than 14 days occurs after the notice is given (and before the trees or bushland vegetation concerned are dealt with), the Council does not advise the person during that period that it opposes the action proposed and the action taken is the action proposed in the notice and is taken for the purpose of bush fire hazard reduction.

(10) A notice under subclause (9) must specify the name and address of the person who gives the notice, the trees concerned (and species of tree) or the type of bushland vegetation concerned, the location of the trees or bushland vegetation concerned, the address of the land on which the trees or bushland vegetation concerned are situated, and the action that is proposed to be taken in respect of the trees or bushland vegetation concerned.

(11) The provisions of a tree and bushland preservation order do not apply to activities lawfully conducted in accordance with the Telecommunications Act 1997 of the Commonwealth, the Roads Act 1993 , the Rural Fires Act 1997 , the Local Government Act 1993 or the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 .

(12) To the extent that it identifies the trees to which the order applies, an order made under clause 8 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Model Provisions 1980 as adopted by this plan and in force immediately before the commencement of this clause, is taken to be an order made and published in accordance with this clause.