Blue Mountains council: call for 10/50 tree-clearing law to be tightened

Vegetation being dumped in one asset-protection zone. Photo: Stop the Chop

The Blue Mountains City Council has joined resident groups in Sydney to renew calls for the tightening of land-clearing laws that have enabled many home owners to clear nearby bushland without a permit.

The so-called 10/50 clearing code allows people living in bushfire-prone areas to fell trees within 10 metres of any house and clear other vegetation out to 50 metres to reduce fire hazards.

Bending to a public outcry that many trees were being cut merely to improve views or boost a property's re-sale value, the government in November narrowed the areas covered by the code and asked the Rural Fire Service to review the policy.

Clearing trees: eight large trees cut in East Killara. Photo: Stop the Chop

However, the Blue Mountains City Council this week voiced its concerns again, with the council members unanimously passing a "mayoral minute" that noted the impacts of the code were cumulative but "not readily measurable" since residents aren't required to give notice of their clearing.

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"This was meant to be about bushfire protection," mayor Mark Greenhill said. "It was not meant to be a new way of land-clearing with no regulation around it."

The relaxing of land-clearing laws was prompted by the 2013 bushfires, which destroyed close to 200 homes in the Blue Mountains.

Vegetation being dumped in bushland. Photo: Stop the Chop

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Blue Mountains council: call for 10/50 tree-clearing law to be tightened