Who's responsible?

The infrastructure that runs from the road to the property boundary is called the ‘road reserve’. This includes roadside drains, nature strips, the crossover (the area between the road and your driveway) and the road itself.

Council is responsible for:

• open drains
• planting street trees on the nature strip
• footpaths
• maintaining residential roads and roadsides.

Note: major or arterial roads are managed by Transport Victoria. For a map of arterial roads and freeways, visit theTransport Victoria website.

Property owners are responsible for:

• driveways
• crossover at the end of the driveway
• damage to footpaths caused by vehicles or tree roots on the owner’s property
• maintaining the nature strip
• maintaining the drain under the crossover including the end walls.

Refer to the diagrams below.

If you wish to make any changes in the road reserve, including planting on the nature strip, you may need a permit.

Find out more

• Roads and roadsides
• Drainage and stormwater
• Footpaths and driveways
• Nature strips
• Working in the road reserve