How do I find where my Mill Park stormwater discharges?

Request a property/stormwater information report from the City of Whittlesea online. For an existing property it gives the point of discharge and details of council drains, including depth and boundary offset.

Can roots from a tree in my front yard be cut to fix a drain?

If it's a protected canopy tree, cutting roots can count as lopping, which needs a permit. With a house on the block, canopy trees in the front 6 m are protected, so check with Whittlesea's planning team first.

Mill Park plumbers: drain records, permits and canopy trees

Mill Park facts that help

A report on your drains

Whittlesea's property/stormwater information report gives the location of your stormwater point of discharge, plus details of council drains, including their depth and offset from the boundary.

Driveway pipes and culverts

Owners look after any drainage infrastructure on their driveway, pipes and culverts included.

Canopy trees front and back

Where there's a house, canopy trees in the front 6 m and rear 4.5 m of the block are protected under Clause 52.37. A canopy tree is over 5 m tall with a trunk more than 0.5 m around at 1.4 m.

A suburb of houses

At the 2021 Census, the suburb of Mill Park was 87.7% separate houses. 38.8% of homes were owned outright, 36.0% mortgaged and 22.8% rented.

Permits around a drain job

Any work in the road reserve, including the nature strip, or inside a council easement needs a Works in Road Reserve Permit from Whittlesea. If your repair reaches the nature strip, settle who is applying before the job is booked.

If a protected canopy tree stands near the trench, removing or lopping it can need a planning permit, and Council's definition of lopping includes cutting roots. A qualified arborist pruning to the Australian standard needs no permit.

Water and sewer

Yarra Valley Water supplies Mill Park. A leak on the pipe between the main and the meter is Yarra Valley Water's to repair, even though it doesn't own that pipe. Its sewer responsibility varies by property, so confirm with it before any dig at the boundary.

Mill Park sits across Yarra Valley Water's Bundoora and Mitcham sampling areas, which averaged 26 and 17 mg/L of hardness in 2025-26. For other jobs, see leak detection, blocked drains in Melbourne, pipe relining or hot water in Melbourne.

What we would do

Order Whittlesea's property/stormwater information report before you get quotes for a drain replacement. It shows where your pipe must discharge and where council drains sit, so every plumber prices the same job. Then measure any big tree near the route against the canopy tree rules, and agree who is applying for the road reserve permit before work starts.

Plumbers in Mill Park Drain records and permits.