Some council services will be unavailable over the Christmas and New Year break.
Check if you need to apply or order before Friday 19 December 2025.
Council-owned property includes reserves, libraries, community centres and halls, and car parks at community facilities.
Use GeoMaps to check if the property or land is owned by council.
You need to get permission to remove or work around any public tree.
For standard maintenance requests, like pruning, see Report a problem at our facilities, venues, parks or beaches.
Tree Owner Approval is required for private developments, infrastructure work or projects that might involve:
The purpose of getting approval is to protect public trees from unnecessary and unsupported damage / loss and to ensure appropriate methodology, mitigation and value is applied to trees as an asset.
To apply, read the Tree Owner Approval Guide then complete the Tree Owner Approval application form below.
We will review your request and get back to you within 3 to 10 working days with a response. There is no fee to apply.
Send the completed form to treemanager@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz with 'Tree request for [Local board]' in the email subject line.
To confirm the relevant local board for the area, enter a nearby address into the Find your local board search.
Applying for approval does not guarantee that it will be approved.
We will weigh up our responsibilities as kaitiaki (guardians) of public trees to consider the best interests of the public and the applicant in line with the urban forest objectives in the Auckland Urban Ngahere (Forest) Strategy.
When making a decision we will consider:
This process also allows for development planners to engage early with our Urban Forest Specialist during the design process.