Bushfires can be a scary and destructive summer occurrence and the NSW Government recently made some changes to their tree clearing laws to help prevent the spread of fire.
Landowners can now organise to clear their land of trees and vegetation, within certain constraints. These parameters are referred to as the ‘10/50 vegetation clearing entitlement area’ and allow you to clear trees within 10 metres of your structure and vegetation and shrubs within 50 metres.
The entitlement is managed by the Rural Fire Service (RFS), who have developed a code of practice to help provide clarification.
Examples of this include describing what constitutes a tree – “a perennial woody plant having a single stem or trunk that is three or more metres in height, and has a circumference of more than 30 centimetres at chest height.”
This entitlement refers not only to residences, but also to any external walls of a building that contain habitable areas. The RFS uses tourist or visitor accommodation, caravans that are in caravan parks, and manufactured homes installed in manufactured home estates, childcare centres, hospitals and schools (not tertiary institutions) as examples.
They have also created an image to better explain the 10/50 concept.
To find out if you’re in an entitlement area click here.