Council to change protected trees law Damage caused by falling trees during the 2008 storm at The Gap. City Hall is set to pass new laws that could see Brisbane residents cutting down protected trees on public land and in their backyards. Changes to the decades-old Natural Assets Local Law, to be backed by the LNP majority council next week, will lift a ban on residents pruning council street trees directly impacting their property. The new by-laws would also see the council place a greater weighting on risks to life and property and nuisance issues when considering applications to remove or trim protected trees from backyards, median strips and parks. But tougher penalties for cases where a tree was found to be improperly removed or trimmed would also be introduced. Residents of the 66,000 private homes with protected trees in Brisbane currently have to lodge requests for basic trimming or removal, and the city's 600,000 street trees are off limits to public hands on pain of prosecution. Lord Mayor Graham Quirk, who will propose the changes on Wednesday, said avoiding costly legal battles was one of the reasons for change. Saving money was also the reason behind his decision to allow residents to undertake minor trimming of council street trees adjoining their homes, Cr Quirk said. "It's common sense council doesn't stand in the way of residents who want to trim street trees out the front of their properties, whether it's because of safety, nuisance or presentation," Cr Quirk said. To this end, "fair" restrictions would be introduced to keep trimming at minor levels, including limiting any work to hand tools and restricting the size of branches that could be removed, he said. But Cr Quirk stressed council would not cut down on its tree maintenance budget. "There will undoubtedly be opponents to these changes, but the January storms reminded us all how easily seemingly healthy trees can cause serious harm and common sense needs to prevail to protect residents and their homes," he said. We're simply ensuring people's lives and homes aren't put in unnecessary danger because stubborn out-of-date laws put the health of protected trees before residents. Under the new laws on-the-spot fines of up to $550 would be introduced for a range of minor offences such as interference with a protected tree or the removal of small protected trees. All vegetation currently protected by NALL would remain so, Cr Quirk said. After going before the council next week, the proposed changes will be up for community consultation for a month. They would then go to the state government for sign off before being brought back to council for final adoption.