Residents and property owners are legally required to maintain the grass, weeds, and scrub on their land, including the nature strip/s adjacent to their home.
Overgrowth, in addition to looking unsightly, can be a potentially serious fire hazard.
Failure to adhere to guidelines can result in significant fines.
Urban and commercial areas
In urban or commercial zones, vegetation, including nature strips, must be kept shorter than 20cm in height all year round.
Failure to adhere to guidelines can result in significant fines.
Report an overgrown nature strip online
Rural scrub clearance
If you're a rural landowner, fire authorities recommend keeping the grass shorter than 10cm to minimise the chance of fire passing from the road onto your property.
You should eliminate weeds and pest plants on your private property as they can have negative agricultural, environmental and social impacts, but be careful to retain native local vegetation, which is protected under the Whittlesea Planning Scheme.
There are some instances where you can get a planning permit to remove native vegetation.
For more information, call our Planning Department on 03 9217 2170 or email buildplan@whittlesea.vic.gov.au.
Learn more about pruning or removing a tree on private property.
Vacant land
If you own vacant land in a residential area you must ensure the grass, weeds and scrub do not grow to more than 20cm high.
Property owners who don’t comply with this requirement can face significant fines.
Report overgrown vacant land by calling us on 03 9217 2170 or email info@whittlesea.vic.gov.au.
See our Roadside Slashing interactive map here
We're responsible for slashing vegetation on Council-owned land, and cutting fire breaks at least twice during the fire danger period, or as seasonally required.
We monitor this land before and during the fire danger period to ensure we meet our responsibilities and that the grass is kept to a fire safe height.
We also issue internal fire notices at Council to ensure this standard is maintained.
You'll notice after periods of rain there may be some delays before long grass in your area is slashed.
If you believe an area requires urgent slashing, call us on 03 9217 2170 or email parks@whittlesea.vic.gov.au.
Fire authorities recommend keeping the grass shorter than 10cm to minimise the chance of fire passing from the road onto your property.
Between the months of November and March every year, a fire break of a minimum of 35m from every boundary must be maintained and not exceed 10cm in height (excluding trees).
Visit Fire prevention program for further information.
Our Local Laws address a range of issues, including unsightly land and fire safety. We have our Local Law to protect:
- community safety
- neighbourhood property
- our natural environment.
Visit New community local law 2024-2034 for further information on penalties for overgrowth on properties.
You can find our weekly grass maintenance schedule here, showing planned mowing for our green spaces. For more information about grass maintenance, explore the FAQs below.
See our weekly grass mowing schedule(PDF, 469KB)
Please note the schedule may change due to weather or other factors.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Below is a list of frequently asked questions about managing and maintaining grass in the City of Whittlesea.
Who is responsible for looking after grass?
We are responsible for maintaining the grass and garden beds in local parks and along local roads. Grass along main roads may be looked after by someone else, such as VicRoads or another government agency. To find out who looks after a particular road, visit our map.
View the map - Whose road is it?
If it’s a privately-owned block of land or a nature strip in front of it, the owner of the land is responsible for grass maintenance.
When will the grass at my local park get cut?
We aim to cut grass and maintain garden beds every three or four weeks. However, wet weather can impact the schedule, meaning that it may take longer than usual to get to certain areas.
Why has the grass been cut along the path and around fences, but not the rest of the park?
If there are days of wet weather or a large deluge of rain, it may be difficult to get machinery into some areas to cut the grass. Where the ground is too wet to use heavy machinery without damaging the surface or compromising safety, we will cut as much as we can with lighter equipment around paths, fences and roadsides. When it dries out, additional crews will be back to finish the work.
Why are grass cuttings not picked up?
Grass clippings are blown off paths and roads but are not collected after mowing. Clippings are left in place to improve turf and soil quality, along with water retention in the ground.
Why aren’t garden beds maintained when the grass is cut?
Garden beds are maintained on a separate three or four weekly cycle by a different crew to the mowing crew. The equipment required to maintain the garden beds differ from that required for mowing.
How is grass on rural roadsides managed?
On roads that we maintain, we use a slashing machine to cut grass on roadsides during spring and summer. This is part of fire preparation work and is done in rural and urban fringe areas three times during this period.
See our interactive roadside slashing map
The first slash will be done as close to the start of the fire danger period as possible (usually late spring or early summer). It is normal that grass is longer in the lead up to the first slashing. Then it will be slashed during summer as the grass grows again to manage fire risk.
VicRoads is responsible for slashing on some main roads.