Above the escarpment
Springwood sits on the Blue Mountains ridge above the Nepean, in Blue Mountains City Council rather than Penrith. That distinction matters more than the twenty minutes of driving between them.
The geology switches from Cumberland Plain shale to Hawkesbury and Narrabeen sandstone. The species change with it: scribbly gum, silvertop ash, Sydney peppermint, red bloodwood and angophora, with a dense heath understorey of banksia, hakea and tea tree. The blocks change too, from flat suburban lots to escarpment properties where the ground falls away into gullies running off the ridge.
A more protective council
Blue Mountains City Council sits within the buffer of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area and regulates vegetation accordingly. Its controls are materially more protective than the plains councils below, and environmental assessment is a routine part of the process rather than an exception.
Expect to need approval for anything of size, expect the assessment to consider habitat and slope stability as well as the tree itself, and expect it to take time. Hanging swamps, escarpment vegetation and threatened species habitat all attract additional requirements.
Bushfire
Springwood and neighbouring Winmalee were hit hard in the October 2013 fires, and the area is extensively mapped as bushfire prone land. That shapes both the regulation and what people actually want done.
Where a property sits inside a mapped 10/50 vegetation clearing entitlement area, trees within ten metres of a home may be removed and underlying vegetation cleared within fifty metres without council approval. Much of the area qualifies; not all of it does, because the mapping has been tightened since the entitlement began. Check the specific address on the RFS tool rather than relying on what a neighbour did.
Fire-damaged trees are their own category of work. A eucalypt that has been burnt and then reshot looks recovered but may carry substantial internal damage, and failures of fire-affected trees show up years afterwards. They warrant proper assessment.
Access and the ground
Escarpment blocks mean steep driveways, houses set below the road and gullies behind the back fence. Where a truck can reach the tree, the work is straightforward. Where it cannot — and on a gully block it usually cannot — material is carried uphill by hand to a chipper on the street, which is where the hours go.
Sandstone changes the stump work as well. Roots run sideways into rock crevices rather than downward, so a grinder chews the stump and then meets stone, and the finished depth is set by the rock.
Nearby
Penrith sits below the escarpment with completely different rules, and the Western Sydney region page covers the corridor. For the work itself, see the removal service page.
Ring (02) 9000 1943, or check the cost guide.
Frequently asked questions
Are Blue Mountains tree rules different from Penrith's?
Substantially. Blue Mountains City Council sits in a World Heritage buffer and applies notably more protective vegetation controls than the plains councils below the escarpment. Assume approval is needed for anything of size, and expect environmental and bushfire considerations to form part of the assessment rather than being an afterthought.
Does 10/50 apply in Springwood?
In mapped areas, yes, and much of the Springwood and Winmalee area is within bushfire prone land. The entitlement allows removal within ten metres of a home and clearing of underlying vegetation within fifty metres, but only inside the published mapped area. Check the address on the NSW Rural Fire Service tool before any work is booked.
Is it safe to leave a burnt tree standing after a fire?
Not reliably. Fire-damaged eucalypts often reshoot and look like they are recovering while the trunk and major limbs carry internal damage and progressive decay. Structural failure can follow years later. A fire-affected tree near a house or a driveway is worth having assessed properly rather than assumed sound because it is green again.