Bensville
Tree lopping in Bensville
Tree lopping, pruning and removal for homes near the MacMasters Ridge Fire Trail at Bensville and along the waterfront.
Tree work in Bensville
A fire trail on the ridge and burns beside the homes
The council's fire trail program of December 2025 lists the MacMasters Ridge Fire Trail at Bensville as one of its major upgrades. A trail is kept open like that because the ridge carries bushfire risk.
The bush is burnt on purpose as well. The parks service's fire history records a prescribed burn named Karuk Rd. It ran from 3 to 5 September 2024 and covered about 48 hectares.
Services in Bensville
Under the ridge and on the water
How it works
From the first message to a written quote
The council question is settled before any price, and nothing is booked until you have said yes to a quote in writing.
- 1
Tell us what the tree is doing
Where it stands, what it is close to and what you would like done about it.
- 2
A contractor comes to see it
A tree contractor who covers your suburb looks at the tree, the access and what is underneath it.
- 3
The council question is answered
Height, trunk size, distance from the house and the species decide whether a permit or an exemption applies.
- 4
You get it in writing
Scope, timber, stump and date on one page, and nothing is booked until you have said yes.
Bensville questions
Wharf casuarinas and a wetland under repair
Can the casuarinas by the wharf be trimmed?
Not by a neighbour. The register Gosford City Council kept of significant trees includes council-owned casuarinas at the end of Kallaroo Road, beside Hastings Road Wharf, noting that they add to the ambience of the Bensville foreshore. Pruning or removing them is the council's decision, and a job next door plans its drop zone and rigging around their canopy and roots.
Why does waterfront work keep off the wetland?
Because the council is restoring it. A council waterways project aims to restore important estuarine wetland habitats at Bensville, controlling weeds such as spiny rush and asparagus weeds. A truck and chipper come in from the street side, and cut material is carried out rather than dropped on the wetland edge.
How much can be pruned before a permit is needed?
The council's plan exempts light pruning of up to 10% of a tree's foliage once each growing season, on branches no thicker than 50mm, done to the Australian Standard. Lifting a few low limbs can fit inside that, while a harder cut needs another exemption or a permit.
