Fencing in Mount Dandenong
On the summit, an open wire fence under 1.8 m and a solid paling fence of the same height sit on opposite sides of the planning line.
We connect you with a local fencer who works in the hills.
Ask for a quoteDandenong Ranges. Photo: Haworthia Ihlathi, CC BY-SA 4.0
Paling or open: the SLO1 test
The whole of Mount Dandenong sits under SLO1, Yarra Ranges' overlay for the ranges. It asks for a planning permit for any fence, on any boundary, unless the fence is under 1.8 m and more than 75% see-through. So the choice of fence decides the paperwork. SLO1 doesn't require a planning permit for open wire, mesh or widely spaced rails under 1.8 m; it does for close paling, Colorbond or lapped timber.
About three quarters of the suburb also carries ESO1. Its wording on fences is ambiguous, so where your property report shows it, ask Yarra Ranges planning first.
VicPlan's free property report shows both overlays.
Checked 25 October 2026 against Vicmap Planning, the state's zone and overlay maps (DataVic), measured across the suburb, Yarra Ranges Planning Scheme, Schedules to Clause 42.03 (SLO1–6, SLO22, SLO23), Yarra Ranges Planning Scheme, Schedules to Clause 42.01 (ESO1, ESO2) and Yarra Ranges Council: building a fence.
Weather at 600 metres
Daytime temperatures on the summit usually run 4 to 6 degrees below the city's, and the GTV9 weather station records over 1,100 mm of rain a year. Snow falls a few times most years. In that weather timber stays damp for long stretches, and a storm can bring a tree down across a boundary. When a falling tree leaves a boundary open, the Fences Act lets you fix it first and give your neighbour an urgent fencing notice after, instead of waiting for the usual notice. The fence repairs guide has the steps.
Checked 25 October 2026 against Wikipedia: Mount Dandenong, Victoria, Fences Act 1968 (Vic), authorised version 072 and Victorian Government: fencing notice (and the standard and urgent notice forms).
The park boundary and the fence line
Close to two thirds of the suburb is public conservation land. The Crown doesn't contribute to a fence on unalienated Crown land, so a boundary with the park is normally paid for by the private owner. Most of the rest is green wedge land, and the settlement began in 1893 as 10-acre timber farms. The state's own example of a sufficient rural fence is post and wire.
The Bushfire Management Overlay covers everything, so a boundary fence that predates 10 September 2009 can have a 4 m strip cleared along it (the two sides added together) with no planning permit. Clearing a fence line sets out the conditions.
Checked 25 October 2026 against Wikipedia: Mount Dandenong, Victoria, Vicmap Planning, the state's zone and overlay maps (DataVic), measured across the suburb, Fences Act 1968 (Vic), authorised version 072, Victorian Government: fencing in Victoria and Victoria Planning Provisions, Clause 52.12 (bushfire protection exemptions).
Down the mountain
- Montrose
- The north-west face drops into the township overlay, SLO22, which only asks about front fences.
- The Basin and Kilsyth
- The Basin is in Knox, whose Neighbourhood Residential zones allow a 1.2 m front fence (2 m on a Transport Zone 2 road) and whose landscape overlays limit front and side fences too. Kilsyth's streets are mostly Yarra Ranges' SLO23, which has no fence rule, and its Maroondah strip has no overlay fence rule either.
Checked 25 October 2026 against Yarra Ranges Planning Scheme, Schedules to Clause 42.03 (SLO1–6, SLO22, SLO23), Knox Planning Scheme, Clause 32.09 schedules (front fence height), Knox Planning Scheme, Schedules 2, 3 and 4 to Clause 42.03 and Maroondah Planning Scheme, schedules to Clauses 42.02, 42.03 and 43.02.
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