Street Sweeping and Leaf Management

25 April 2025

Struggling to keep up with the leaves? Here's a handy reference for what you can and can't do.

Autumn is a beautiful time to be in the wonderful hills with the leaves of deciduous trees changing into their glorious autumn colours. This is quickly followed by trees dropping their leaves as they start to hibernate through the colder winter months.

All trees drop leaves, flowers, seed, small limbs and shed bark in varying amounts all year round and we understand trees can be messy but they provide a number of significant benefits to us and our surroundings. Visit our tree pages to find out more about trees and tree management.

Street Sweeping

We have regular street sweeping maintenance programs (on a 10-week cycle) to help keep main street footpaths and roads clear of leaves and debris. During autumn leaf fall we may visit known problem areas or areas of high traffic on a more frequent program.

Transport Maintenance Service Levels

Council will not respond to Customer Requests to clean up leaves that have been blown from the verge and your property onto the roadway as it is the responsibility of the property owner to manage leaves on their property and impacts to the stormwater system.

Your Property

Here are some handy tips to reduce leaf litter and to ensure our streets, gutters and footpaths are clear:

COMPOST THEM - leaves provide a great source of carbon in your compost bin or worm farm. Layer them between wet food scraps and garden materials.

MAKE A MULCH - spread leaf matter on flower beds, vegetable gardens or under trees and shrubs. They provide nutrients, keep weeds down and the moisture in.

MOW OVER THEM - an easy way to make mulch. Run over them with the lawn mower (no raking required). Then empty the catcher on your garden or directly in a compost bin.

GREEN BIN - collect leaves and debris from around your property and put in the green waste bin for collection on a fortnightly basis.

Effect of Leaves on Stormwater Systems

The Environment Protection (Water Quality) Policy 2015 specifies that a number of pollutants cannot be discharged to the stormwater system which includes roadside gutters and stormwater drains. By law you are obliged to ensure these pollutants do not reach the stormwater system from your property. Failure to comply with these obligations may result in a $300 fine, an Environment Protection Order or a prosecution.

Pollutants includes green waste (e.g. lawn clippings, leaves, prunings) that may be blown from your property onto the roadway from the verge and your property. These can quickly block gutters and stormwater drains and cause flooding which may enter your property. Organic and inorganic pollutants can also have a range of negative impacts on the environment effecting water quality, waterways and natural ecosystems.

Visit the EPA webpage Around the home for more information.

To avoid any possibility of causing negative impacts to our environment, flooding or prosecution, please don't blow leaves into the road, instead use the handy tips above to manage leaves and green waste.