Fencing in Sassafras

Two councils on one ridge

Sassafras sits in a saddle on top of the ridge, and the line between Yarra Ranges and Knox runs through the locality. About seven eighths of it, the village included, is Yarra Ranges; the rest is Knox. Which side your block is on decides whose overlays apply to a fence.

A free VicPlan property report names the council and every overlay.

Checked 25 October 2026 against Wikipedia: Sassafras, Victoria and Vicmap Planning, the state's zone and overlay maps (DataVic), measured across the suburb.

The Yarra Ranges side

Here the ranges overlay, SLO1, applies to any fence: a planning permit is needed unless it is under 1.8 m and more than 75% see-through. A paling or sheet-metal fence between two gardens fails that test at any height.

Around the village the shops sit under DDO14 too, which offers design guidance for fences rather than a permit trigger. Much of this side also has ESO1, whose fence wording is ambiguous: ask Yarra Ranges planning if it is on your report.

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 43.02 (DDOs), Yarra Ranges Planning Scheme, Schedules to Clause 42.01 (ESO1, ESO2) and Yarra Ranges Council: building a fence.

The Knox side

The Knox blocks we sampled are zoned Rural Conservation and sit under Knox's SLO4, The Basin Rural Landscape overlay. It is stricter than SLO1 on fences: a planning permit is needed for any fence unless it is post and wire, no taller than 1.2 m and more than 75% open. Some of those blocks also carry a Knox environmental overlay, ESO2, which our sources don't cover, so ask Knox's planners if it is on your report. The state building rules apply either side: a side or back fence up to 2 m needs no building permit.

Checked 25 October 2026 against Vicmap Planning, the state's zone and overlay maps (DataVic), measured across the suburb, Knox Planning Scheme, Schedules 2, 3 and 4 to Clause 42.03 and Building Regulations 2018 (Vic), authorised version 031.

Down Sassafras Gully

East of the village, the banks of Sassafras Creek are almost all public land, once the Sassafras Creek Nature Conservation Reserve and now part of the national park. A block backing onto it has the Crown as its neighbour, and the Crown doesn't pay half. Where the neighbour is private, dividing fences covers the notice. Along a fence older than 10 September 2009, the bushfire exemption lets vegetation be cleared 4 m wide, both sides together; clearing a fence line has the conditions.

Checked 25 October 2026 against Wikipedia: Sassafras, Victoria, Fences Act 1968 (Vic), authorised version 072 and Victoria Planning Provisions, Clause 52.12 (bushfire protection exemptions).

Either side of the saddle

Olinda, Ferny Creek and Sherbrooke

All Yarra Ranges and SLO1, with the same rule for every fence.

The Basin

Knox. In its Neighbourhood Residential streets a front fence can be 1.2 m, or 2 m on a Transport Zone 2 road, before a building permit is needed.

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) and Building Regulations 2018 (Vic), authorised version 031.