The City of Boroondara welcomes the Victorian Government's decision to allow Energy Safe Victoria (ESV) to conduct trials on the reduction of the minimum clearance around low-voltage powerlines in low bushfire risk areas.
Under the new regulations ESV is expected to work with Councils from across Victoria on the parameters of the trials and how these reduced clearance rules would be managed. ESV is expected to develop the guidelines that will manage these trials within 18 months.
Council and its community are concerned at the unnecessary damage being done to mature street trees through excessive cutbacks, as mature trees play such an important role in both our streetscapes and fighting climate change.
Council's advocacy for change is decades long. Council's most recent effort was in February 2026 when Council called for the minimum clearance around uninsulated low-voltage powerlines in low bushfire risk areas to be reduced from 1 metre to 30cm on a permanent basis.
Council made this decision based on extensive evidence that this reduction in clearance was safe, would save ratepayers money, and would result in healthier trees and greater canopy coverage.
Cr Wes Gault, the Mayor of Boroondara, welcomed the upcoming trial from Energy Safe Victoria and the opportunities it opens for creating healthier tree canopies in Boroondara while saving ratepayers money.
"The reduced tree line clearances we called for are safe and effective, having been followed in South Australia for many years," he said. "Clearances designed to minimise bushfire risk are clearly not relevant to a middle ring suburb of Melbourne."
"We hope to work closely with Energy Safe Victoria as they develop the guidelines for this trial and take part in it once those guidelines have been finalised.
"These reduced setbacks are safe and have potential to deliver real benefits to our community such as shadier streets in summer and healthier trees."
The new Electricity Safety (Electrical Line Clearance) Regulations 2026 came into effect on 24 June 2026.
