Bees

If you experience problems with bee swarms on your premises, contact an apiarist (bee keeper) as listed in the Yellow Pages directory.

Contact Council if you have any concerns regarding the keeping of bees on neighbouring premises or if you notice the presence of bee swarms in street trees, parks or other Council areas used by the public.

The guidelines for keeping of bees in places where they may be a nuisance or danger to persons and to ensure the comfort and safety of the residents of the area are provided in Section 254 of the Local Government Act 1999. The Act states "a person who is keeping bees in close proximity to other property may be ordered to refrain from keeping bees where it has been determined that the bees may cause or be likely to cause a nuisance or a hazard to health or safety or otherwise to become a pest".

Residents who have a swarm of bees on their property are responsible for arranging for the swarm to be removed.

Council will arrange for swarms to be removed from Council owned land.

This information is only intended to provide guidance to the community and does not in any way bind the Council.

Council gives a high priority to the removal of bees from Council property as they may constitute a safety hazard. Contact Council with details of the location of the bees and Council officers will organise their removal.

Council does not provide a bee removal service. Please refer to the Yellow Pages or other resources to locate the contact details of apiarists who will remove bees for a fee.

When bees are swarming near Telstra pits, please call Telstra on ph: 13 22 03 for assistance.

If bees are on SA Water land or in a SA Water pit then please contact SA Water on ph: 1300 650 950.