Property owners could be blocked from cutting down any trees on their land under a local law being considered by a Perth council.

The Town of Victoria Park would become the only WA council to protect trees on all private properties if it adopts the measure.

Council officers, however, are unsure of how the law would work but suggested it could be done with a permit system where permission would be sought for pruning or removal by property owners.

The Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries has labelled the idea “contentious”.

“The general law-making power is designed for matters of good governance ... it is debatable whether this extends to removing the rights of property owners to dispose of trees they own,” it said.

Twenty-one years ago, the Town of Claremont made a local law for tree protection, which required written permission from the council before any tree could be removed, but it was vetoed by the State government.

Victoria Park councillor Karen Vernon, who raised the issue of tree retention with the council, said her interest was sparked when a character home with a “magnificent tree” on her street was bulldozed to make way for three town houses.

“I knew that we didn’t have embedded into our planning policies means that we could use to encourage people who have trees on private property to retain them,” she said.

“Or that we had means to encourage developers or to prevent developers of properties from cutting down trees in order for us meet our urban forestation strategy objectives.”

Victoria Park councillors will consider the issue on June 18.