A MOVE to cut down 23 maturing eucalypts in a Somers residential garden has been thwarted by Mornington Peninsula Shire Council.

The council rejected an application for the removal of the trees from 1Dover Court.

The refusal was hailed as a "fantastic" victory for common sense by next-door neighbours Kevin and Beverley Braddy, who vigorously opposed the application.

It is understood the owners made the application after suggestions from other neighbours that they may face legal action if they didn't remove them.

These neighbours, in Beach Hill Road, appear to have attempted to use a 30-year-old vegetation covenant stipulating a maximum height of 4.2metres to have the trees removed in order to improve or restore sea views.

The council said the tree removal and pruning application did not comply with the shire's vegetation protection overlay or significant landscape overlay.

These planning policies conserve the habitat value of vegetation within townships and maintain vegetation as an important element of coastal landscape.

Statutory planner Rebecca Downey also said that the extent of vegetation removal and pruning would be excessive to comply with the requirements of the covenant.

The applicants have 60 days from February 26 to appeal the shire's decision at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal. Neighbour Kevin Braddy said most Dover Court residents were pleased that the trees had been saved. "We felt that this was a threat to all our properties," he said.

Mr Braddy said that if someone could use a property covenant to force a neighbour to remove trees, then it could create a snowball effect and threaten trees growing on other blocks in the subdivision. Mr Braddy said he understood that 1 Dover Court has been sold.