Tree Lopping Sydney

Why we will not simply lop it

The Australian Standard for pruning amenity trees, AS 4373-2007, puts it in one line in its foreword: “Lopping, topping and flush cutting are unacceptable practices.” The reason is biology, not red tape. Cutting a limb off at a random point leaves a stub the tree cannot seal. It decays inward, and the tree throws a crowd of fast, weakly attached shoots from the wound. Within a few years the tree is bigger than before and the new growth is the part most likely to fail in a storm. Councils know this, which is why a pruning permit on a protected tree is approved for work to AS 4373 and not for lopping.

Reduction pruning takes each branch back to a smaller side branch that can take over as the new tip. The tree ends up smaller, the cuts seal, and the regrowth is normal. From the street a well-reduced tree looks like it has not been touched — which is the point.

Pruning a protected tree is “clearing” under State planning rules once it goes past what your council allows. The NSW planning department’s own words: clearing includes “lopping or removing a substantial part of the vegetation beyond the amount of pruning that your local council allows”. How much your council allows varies a lot:

• Hornsby — “you can prune up to 10% of the leaf canopy (area)” where branches are a nuisance, once a year, to AS 4373.
• Inner West — without permission: canopy lifting to 2.5 m, branches under 100 mm to a maximum of 10% of the canopy a year, and deadwood.
• Ku-ring-gai — minor pruning is branches of 50 mm or less, branches directly over the roof line, and dead branches; trees within 3 m of the house are exempt (DCP Part 13).
• Georges River, Bayside, Canterbury-Bankstown — no percentage allowance. Deadwood, exempt species and small trees are exempt; pruning live branches on a protected tree needs a permit. Georges River exempts deadwood pruning only, done to AS 4373 (Tree Management Policy 2024).
• Sutherland Shire — branches directly overhanging the roof may be removed to AS 4373 without a permit; other work on trees with a trunk over 100 mm needs an application.
• Bushfire areas — in a 10/50 entitlement area the RFS says “you can prune any vegetation within 10 metres of the building”, to AS 4373. Check the online tool on the day and keep the result.

The permit itself is not the hard part — we lodge it for you. What a council will not approve is lopping. Our tree pruning page has the full council-by-council table, and our council guides go deeper on each area.

Pruning, crown reduction and deadwooding to AS 4373 runs $800–$4,000 ex GST per tree. What moves it inside that band: the tree’s size and species, how much comes off, access for the chipper and EWP, whether there are powerlines or structures under the work, and whether a council permit has to be lodged first. More than one tree, an arborist impact assessment for a development, or a council application add to the total. You get one fixed price after we have seen the tree, no call-out fee.

A proper reduction costs more than a quick lop because it takes a climber longer to make the right cuts. It also means you are not paying again in three years to deal with the regrowth, and not paying for a removal when the lopped stubs rot.