BENDIGO's council has waived a permit fee for plants on nature strips in a move that has been branded a victory for the climate.
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The City of Greater Bendigo is waiving fees for trees and other vegetation on nature strips following a couple's months-long climate protest out the front of council offices.
People will still need to follow guidelines about nature strips and make sure their trees do not cause safety issues, a council spokesperson said.
They will also still need the council's permission to plant anything other than lawn grass on their nature strips.
Activist Vyonne McLelland-Howe and her husband Andrew have become an almost-daily fixture outside the council's city centre offices in recent months, protesting a policy she has branded outdated and gathering petition signatures.
Her efforts - inspired by high-profile climate campaigner Greta Thurnberg's recent UN address - began when she tried to turn her nature strip into a "carbon sink" using plants that feed on greenhouse gases.
"To me it empowers residents to do something, because climate change is such an overwhelming issue. I personally think 'what can one person do'," she said last October.
The process had attracted a fee of roughly $90, which Mrs McLelland-Howe said was a disincentive for people to act on climate change.
The council's current policy was last updated in 2006 during the height of the Millennium Drought and allowed people to put crushed rocks, stones or bricks on their nature strips to save on water.
It does not focus on ways to fight climate change.
Bendigo's nature strip policy is expected to be reviewed in the first half of the coming financial year, the council spokesperson said.
Mrs McLelland-Howe hopes people will now take action.
"Please start applying for permission so we can turn Bendigo's nature strips into one big carbon sink," she said.
The campaigner thanked the council for being so obliging, but did not rule out resuming protests in the future.
"We do not stop at the end of the day," Mrs McLelland-Howe said.
"I see my climate change activism as one of changing government policies. We need to do it one at a time."
Mrs McLelland-Howe is now turning her attention to the council's policies on solar panels, and action to make it easier for people to install renewable energy around their homes.
Tom O'Callaghan
I grew up in Bendigo and I want to tell your stories.
I grew up in Bendigo and I want to tell your stories.
