What is a scheduled tree in Dunedin?
Dunedin's district plan is the 2GP, short for Second Generation District Plan. It has its own Scheduled Trees section: a list of trees protected for what they add to the look and history of a neighbourhood.
Trees earn a place through the Standard Tree Evaluation Method (STEM), which scores a tree's condition, its amenity and anything notable about it, such as stature, history or scientific value. In council's 2015 evaluation, a tree needed a benchmark score of 145 to be listed.
Before the 2GP, council audited about 1,300 sites between December 2012 and December 2014 to check the list was still right, and took new nominations. A council arborist and a council landscape architect did the assessments.
What the rules were written to control
Council's section 32 report on the proposed plan, from September 2015, set out what scheduling means. Resource consent was needed to prune a scheduled tree with anything other than hand-operated pruning shears or secateurs, to remove it, or to build or do earthworks within its drip-line (the ground under the outer edge of the canopy).
It also set out setbacks, so earthworks, buildings and new hard surfaces stay far enough from a scheduled tree to avoid damaging it. That matters for decks, driveways and extensions as much as for tree work.
Scheduled trees were heard on 26 and 27 May 2016, and the plan went on to become fully operative. The final wording may differ from the 2015 proposal, so treat this as the outline and confirm the detail with council.
When removal could be considered
The 2015 report described the cases where removing a scheduled tree could be justified: it's dead or in terminal decline, it's a significant risk to safety or property, or it shades existing homes so much that sunlight is badly compromised. Serious effects on network infrastructure that pruning can't reasonably fix were also covered.
Any other change to a scheduled tree was to follow best arboricultural practice, and be needed for the tree's health or to deal with safety, sunlight or damage to property.
How to check before work in Dunedin
Find out whether the tree is scheduled
Call council's district plan team with the address. Have a photo of the tree and where it sits on the section.
Ask what the operative rule allows
Ask whether your job needs consent under the current Scheduled Trees rules, not the 2015 proposal, and whether any setback affects building work nearby.
Bring in an arborist
The plan's definitions include a suitably qualified arborist and best arboricultural practice. An arborist can assess the tree and describe the work in those terms.
Lodge and wait
If consent is needed, apply and wait for the decision before anyone cuts, or digs inside the drip-line.
Dunedin City Council tree rules and resource consents: what to do next
We'd ring the district plan team before booking anything, and assume that anything beyond secateurs on a scheduled tree needs consent until council says otherwise. If the job is a path, deck or extension near the drip-line, we'd raise that on the same call. And if the tree is dead or declining, we'd get an arborist's assessment in writing first, since that's the situation the removal rules were written around.
Want an arborist to look at it?
Tell us the job and your postcode, and a local arborist calls you to talk it through.