Clearing Trees for a Driveway or Shed Slab in NSW: Which Approval Applies

On a lot of acreage the best spot for a shed or a new driveway has trees on it. Clearing them is quick with the right machine. Getting it wrong is slow and expensive, because NSW runs several clearing rules side by side and the one that applies depends on your zoning, your council and whether the job has its own approval. This guide walks through how to work out which rule covers your clearing, what the rural rules allow for farm sheds and tracks, and why the 10/50 rule won’t clear a building site.

Start with the approval for the job itself

If the driveway, shed or hardstand needs development consent, the clearing it needs is usually assessed as part of that application. The NSW Government’s guide to native vegetation management says clearing that needs development consent is generally managed through a development application with your local consent authority.

Councils draw the same line. The Hills Shire Council’s vegetation clearing application is for native vegetation that hasn’t been approved as part of a development consent. Central Coast Council says clearing linked to development, such as matters covered under a development application, isn’t accepted through its private tree works process. If your consent shows the trees coming out, follow its conditions. If the job is exempt development with no consent, the clearing still needs its own check.

Rural zones and urban zones run on different rules

Where there is no consent covering the clearing, zoning decides which set of rules you are under. The NSW Government lists rural zoned land as RU1, RU2, RU3, RU4, RU6 and deferred matter land. RU5 village land is treated as non-rural.

The Hills and Hawkesbury both sit on the edge of Sydney, so don’t assume a rural zoning settles it. A phone call to council or Local Land Services (1300 795 299) before any machine arrives is cheap insurance.

Farm sheds and tracks under the rural rules

On regulated rural land, the Local Land Services framework has allowable activities that don’t need its approval. They include clearing to build and maintain rural infrastructure such as roads and tracks, sheds and other farm structures, where the property is genuinely used for agriculture. The limits are tight.

• Minimum necessary. You may only clear the minimum needed to build and maintain the infrastructure.
• Set distances. The maximum clearing distance depends on where the property is. It is 15 metres in the coastal zone, 12 metres on small holdings under 10 hectares, and 6 metres on vulnerable or sensitive regulated land.
• How it is measured. For a track it is the total clearing width. For a shed it is measured out from the shed’s perimeter.
• Only where no consent is needed. The activity applies to clearing that doesn’t need development consent, and you may still need council approval under other laws.

A farm shed slab set back from the tree line, or a rural driveway routed around the bigger trees, often needs less clearing than the first sketch suggests. That is worth looking at before the set-out is fixed.

Council tree permits in the Hills, Hawkesbury and Central Coast

Where council is the approval authority, each one has its own process.

1. The Hills Shire. Council’s trees on private land page says consent is needed to remove any tree not exempted from its Tree Preservation Order, to prune a tree by more than 10%, and to substantially alter the soil level within 3 metres of a tree’s trunk. That last one catches excavation for a slab or driveway beside a tree you are keeping. Council warns of a possible maximum fine of up to $1,100,000 for unauthorised removal, damage or lopping.
2. Hawkesbury. Council’s tree removal on private property page uses a Tree/Vegetation Removal Permit. Native vegetation above the Biodiversity Offsets Scheme threshold can only be approved by the Native Vegetation Panel, and a development application is needed instead for heritage items, heritage conservation areas or Aboriginal objects and places.
3. Central Coast. Council takes a private tree works application where the risk isn’t imminent, and points owners to the Native Vegetation Regulatory Map to check whether the land is covered by the Local Land Services rules.

Approval comes before machines. Our clearing and excavation work starts once the paperwork says the trees can go.

Why the 10/50 rule won’t clear a building site

The NSW Rural Fire Service’s 10/50 vegetation clearing scheme lets owners in a 10/50 area clear trees within 10 metres of a home, and shrubs but not trees within 50 metres, without approval. The distance is measured from the external walls. The RFS says you may only clear once the building has been constructed, that you should check the online tool on the day you clear, and that you can’t clear contrary to the conditions of a development consent. It also notes some abuse of the scheme for other purposes. The rule exists to protect homes from bush fire, so it doesn’t clear the way for a new shed or driveway.

The trees you keep need protecting too. Central Coast Council’s development application checklist asks for an arborist’s report to AS 4970-2009, Protection of trees on development sites, prepared by an AQF level 5 or higher arborist when works come within 5 metres of retained trees over 500mm in trunk diameter. The NSW Government’s environment agency reported a fine of $587,200 in 2025 for unlawfully clearing critically endangered woodland in Western Sydney. Clearing without the right approval is unlawful, whatever the reason.

Before any tree comes down

• Zoning checked
• Native Vegetation Regulatory Map category checked
• Consent conditions read, if there is a consent
• Council or Local Land Services asked
• Permit in writing
• Retained trees marked and protected