Cairns City Council gazetted Local Law 24 (Vegetation Protection) in May 1999. This Law protects vegetation in areas of Redlynch, Stratford, sections of Brinsmead, and the Northern Beaches suburbs including Smithfield. In the future more properties will be added to the register of protected vegetation.
To find out if a property is effected by the Local Law, please contact Council's Customer service centre on 40443044. To review Local Law 24 (Vegetation Protection) please visit the Department of Local Government, Sport and Recreation's Local Laws Database.
In developing the new Law, Council has adopted a differential method of protecting vegetation to attain a more accurate representation of the vegetation community type. For example the category of protection may be:
As a note, "tree" means a plant that has:
To assist in informing new or potential landowners of the presence of the Law, Council has included this notation on general rate searches.
The Local Law does not prohibit development or the clearing of protected vegetation, it simply provides and avenue whereby Council is consulted prior to it's removal. This means that the landowner must receive written permission from Council to damage or remove protected vegetation.
Approval can be sought by completing an Application to Remove Protected Vegetation form and returning to Council. Where necessary, an assessment will be undertaken by Council officers to determine if there is a genuine need for the works to occur. There is no fee associated with this service.
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Application to Remove Protected Vegetation Form |
The public is also able to nominate vegetation for protection. A copy of this form is also attached and should be returned as indicated.
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Nominate Vegetation for Protection Form |
Plant Smart near Powerlines
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Plant smart - former Cairns or Plant smart - former Douglas |
Enquiries to remove protected vegetation can be directed to Customer Services on (07) 4044 3044.