Tree management in Victoria Park

Project statusPark management policy adopted at Ordinary Council Meeting
Last updatedSeptember 2023

A major storm in 2021 caused substantial damage to a number of trees in Victoria Park, Queenscliff. Victoria Park is much loved by residents, campers and visitors for its extensive canopy and natural spaces, and Council has committed to revegetating and restoring the park.

Storm damage

During a major storm in October 2021, a large number of the trees in Victoria Park were severely damaged by extreme winds. This damage caused many trees to lose limbs, suffer major structural faults, or fail completely. Since the storm, Council has been monitoring the health and safety of the trees, including hiring an independent arborist to assess each of the trees in the park.

Works on existing trees

Following allegations made to WorkSafe that Victoria Park was unsafe due to `damaged trees’, WorkSafe inspected the site in autumn 2022. During the inspection, WorkSafe requested a copy of the arborist reports prepared for Council in January 2022. Following the inspection and a review of the arborist reports, WorkSafe concluded that many of the trees posed a risk of failing, potentially injuring or killing people nearby. In response, WorkSafe issued Provisional Improvement Notice, or PIN, which required Council to complete remedial actions, including removing or pruning a number of trees on site as per the recommendations in the arborist reports.

To comply with the WorkSafe PIN, Council closed the park to public access and began completing the works recommended by the arborist in an updated report completed in June 2022. While Council sought a review of the WorkSafe PIN in an attempt to reduce the extent of works required, WorkSafe did not accept the arguments put by council officers and maintained their requirement for the PIN notice to be addressed and the trees managed as per the recommendations in the arborist report.

Planting new trees

Wherever trees must be removed for legal or safety reasons, we prioritise replacing them with newly-planted trees as soon as possible. Council is currently developing a policy for the management of Victoria Park, which includes a replanting plan to replace trees and shrubs that were lost due to storm damage. Because we know Victoria Park is special to many different people in our community, we're looking forward to hearing your ideas for the park's future as we develop this plan.

Council adopted a policy outlining future management of the park at August's Ordinary Meeting of Council. Council is currently undertaking cleaning, weeding and mulching in preparation for the Queen's Jubilee planting that the Friends of Victoria Park are beginning on 9 October.

Engaging Victorian Government agencies

While Council accepts WorkSafe's authority in managing tree works in Victoria Park, we want to ensure community expectations are better reflected in future tree management activities.

Council has written to the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning and to WorkSafe seeking an urgent meeting. Our goal is to better understand WorkSafe's expectations for tree management, consider the implications of WorkSafe's requirements on tree management practices broadly, and to create a framework for tree management that better reflects Council's and our community’s expectations.

We're confident a better framework would enable us to prioritise public safety while also retaining and protecting trees in the Borough.

How arborists assess trees

We use independent arborists to check and assess trees for safety. When assessing trees, arborists consider the health of a tree, the strength of the tree's structure, and any other factors that may impact the tree's health.

A first inspection is typically a visual inspection made at ground level. An arborist will inspect the tree for visible defects, like cracks or rotten wood. Arborists will also consider the tree's structure, such as whether the tree is unbalanced due to limb loss. After this inspection, the arborist will typically make a recommendation regarding the tree's overall health, and whether any tree works are required to reduce public safety risks or improve the health of the tree.

Occasionally, arborists will identify further damage as works are completed on a tree. For example, the removal of a damaged limb may reveal previously unidentified rot in the tree's trunk, or the vantage point of a cherry picker may enable the arborist to see structural weaknesses not visible from the ground. In these instances, arborists will adjust the works they complete on the tree to account for this new information.

As trees are living structures, assessments of their health may also change over time. A healthy tree may rapidly deteriorate due to age or disease and require works sooner than initially identified.

You can click here(PDF, 2MB) to view an initial arborist's report for Victoria Park, taken in January 2022. While arborist's reports are dynamic and change as new information comes to light, this report will help you understand how an initial assessment considers the health of trees before works begin.

In all – trees are living structures that age, sicken and unfortunately die, and assessing a tree's health is a dynamic and changing practice. Our arborists only ever undertake tree works where necessary for a tree's health or safety, and an effective arboricultural program keeps our trees as healthy and safe as possible.

All about coppicing

You may see some trees in Victoria Park that have been pruned back quite a lot, in some cases with very few or no leaves left on the tree. This is a pruning technique called coppicing, and arborists have taken this approach where a tree's trunk and roots are structurally sound, but its branches are damaged and a high risk to public safety.

Coppicing preserves the core of the tree and lets it regenerate with healthy new wood. It allows trees and canopy coverage to regenerate quickly and in some cases to maintain hollows and habitats valued by local wildlife. Over the coming years, you should expect to see shoots and branches reappearing from these trees as they regrow. Please don’t touch this new growth – small branches can be fragile and we want to give these trees space to quickly regrow into a healthy new canopy.