Do I need a permit to remove a tree on the Sunshine Coast?
You need a permit to remove a tree on the Sunshine Coast if your property carries protected vegetation mapping and no scheme exemption covers the work. The common exemptions are clearing within 3 m of a boundary fence, up to 600 m² alongside a building work approval, or within 20 m of a building. Council’s Development.i site report tells you which applies, free.
Check your specific situation A few questions on the Sunshine Coast rules below, and you get a straight answer on whether approval is likely to be required.A permit is required for
- The property carries protected vegetation mapping
- The work is not covered by a scheme exemption
- The tree is on a road verge, nature strip or other Council land
Generally exempt
- Clearing within 3 m of your side of a boundary fence, where the fence needs it
- Clearing alongside a valid building work approval, up to 600 m² in total
- Clearing within 20 m of a building, or 1.5 times canopy height in a bushfire hazard area
Where people get caught out
- Every exemption switches off where the land carries approval conditions, a covenant, an offset, or earlier unlawful clearing.
- Noosa is a different council. Noosa Heads, Noosaville, Tewantin, Sunshine Beach and Cooroy sit in Noosa Shire, which has its own scheme.
What trees are protected on the Sunshine Coast?
These are the trees Sunshine Coast protects. If yours falls into one of them, assume approval is required until Council confirms otherwise — nothing on the tree itself tells you, and the obligation sits with the owner.
- Any tree on land carrying protected vegetation mapping under the planning scheme
- Trees inside a vegetation covenant, biodiversity offset or development approval condition
- Trees on land where earlier clearing was unlawful
- Council vegetation — road verges, nature strips, parks and reserves
- Habitat for protected fauna, regulated independently of the scheme
What counts as damaging a tree
Removal is not the only thing that needs approval. Sunshine Coast treats all of the following as damage:
- Cutting down, ring-barking, topping, lopping or poisoning
- Pruning severe enough that the tree is likely to die
- Damaging roots by compacting, excavating or filling inside the drip zone
- Clearing understorey beneath a canopy you are leaving standing
Other instruments that can apply
- Planning Act 2016 — clearing without the necessary development permit is a development offence
- Vegetation Management Act 1999 — applies separately where remnant vegetation is involved
- Nature Conservation Act 1992 — koala habitat and protected fauna, independent of the planning scheme
- Development approval conditions, vegetation covenants and biodiversity offsets recorded on a property
How to apply for a tree removal permit on the Sunshine Coast
- 01
Check how the property is mapped
Council’s Development.i site report shows whether the property carries protected vegetation. This is the step that decides everything else, and it costs nothing.
- 02
Work out whether an exemption covers the work
Exempt clearing is defined in Schedule 1 of the planning scheme. Read the limits rather than the summary — the fence, building work and bushfire exemptions all carry conditions that are easy to fall outside.
- 03
Get the supporting assessment
Where the application turns on the tree’s health, structure or risk, an arborist report is what makes the case assessable rather than an assertion.
- 04
Lodge a DA Form 1
Vegetation clearing is operational work, so it is lodged as a development application on the state DA Form 1 with the supporting material attached.
When Sunshine Coast wants an arborist report
- An application to clear protected vegetation, where the justification rests on the condition or structure of the tree
- Development applications where trees are being retained and construction encroaches on their root zones
- Responding to an information request on a lodged application
- Any argument that a tree presents an unacceptable risk, which needs to be quantified rather than asserted