Tweed Heads, Banora Point, Terranora and Kingscliff

Tree lopping and tree removal across the Tweed

Name: Gold Coast Tree and Stump
Telephone: 0439 021 022

Ten minutes south of Coolangatta the council changes, and so does the question of whether a tree can come down at all.

Tweed Shire, not the Gold Coast

Three thresholds that change at the border

Tweed Shire Council protects trees in its non-rural areas as declared vegetation, under Section B2 of the Tweed Development Control Plan. The tests are not the Queensland ones with different numbers. They are different tests.

A native tree
Declared at equal to or greater than 4m in height OR equal to or greater than 10cm diameter at standard height. Ten centimetres through the trunk is a young tree, and it is a diameter here where the Queensland side measures around the trunk.
Any tree at all
Tweed Shire also protects size on its own: any tree, native or non-native, with a diameter at standard height equal to or greater than 40 cm. This is the one that surprises people, because a big old exotic is covered too.
Camphor laurel
The removal of camphor laurel is exempt (does not require a permit) if the tree has a diameter at standard height of less than 100 cm. It is the one species whose threshold goes up rather than down, so a big old one still needs the application.

Compared: removal, lopping or pruning, stump grinding or stump removal, council tree rules compared

How it works

Four steps, and the permit comes before the price

Nothing happens without a written quote you have agreed to.

1
Call or send the form
Include the suburb, your details and what needs to be done.
2
A contractor comes to see it
On site, not off a photo, because access and what sits underneath change the job.
3
The permit position is checked
Against the city's vegetation mapping and the koala controls, before a price is given.
4
Quoted in writing
The quote sets out the scope, the timber, the stump and the date. Then a date is booked.

Across the border

Koala trees, roots, fees and which side you are on

Which trees are protected by species rather than size?

Tweed Shire names four preferred koala food trees as declared vegetation: Eucalyptus robusta (Swamp Mahogany), E. tereticornis (Forest Red Gum), E. microcorys (Tallowwood) and E. propinqua (Small-fruited Grey Gum). Naming the species settles the question before anybody reaches for a tape.

Is it only removal that needs approval?

No. In Tweed Shire an application is needed to remove declared vegetation, undertake heavy canopy pruning, or damage structural roots. Cutting hard into a protected tree, or cutting through its roots for a path or a driveway, sits inside the scheme the same way taking it out does.

What does the application cost?

Tweed Shire states that there is no fee to lodge this application, and it goes in through the council's own online form. Where the position on a tree is unclear, asking costs time rather than money.

Is a rural block treated the same?

Not always. Clearing native vegetation on rural land in the Tweed, in the RU1, RU2 and Deferred Matter zones, may instead need approval under the Local Land Services Act 2013 rather than from the council. Which authority answers depends on the zone the address sits in.

How far south does this go?

Tweed Heads, Banora Point, Terranora and Kingscliff. The contractor crosses the border for the work; the business itself is not in New South Wales, and the tree is still seen on site before anything is quoted.

Where does the waste go, and does that change the price?

It can. Tweed Shire Council says its free recycling and problem waste service is for Tweed residents showing identification, and that Additional fees may apply to people who live outside of our shire and businesses taking loads to the tip. A contractor carting a Tweed job away is both of those things, so disposal is quoted for the Tweed side rather than assumed from the Queensland one. Council does not currently provide a public weighbridge service either, so a load is not settled by weight at the gate.

Would the Gold Coast answer do?

It would not, and that is the point of this page. The Queensland side measures a native's trunk around rather than across and has no rule about size alone, so an answer that is right in Currumbin can be wrong in Banora Point. There is a separate page for the Gold Coast permit position.