Tree Preservation Orders: Do You Need Permission?
A Tree Preservation Order, usually called a TPO, protects specified trees, groups or woodlands because of their public amenity value. It does not mean a tree can never be pruned or removed. It means that controlled work normally requires written consent from the local planning authority. This guide covers England: rules elsewhere in the UK differ. Before arranging tree surgery, establish what protection applies, describe the proposed work accurately and understand any conditions attached to consent.
When buying a property, obtain tree-related decisions and approved plans with the other planning records. An estate agent's photograph or an earlier owner's account is not confirmation that protection has ended. Identify who holds the correspondence and whether any approved work has already been completed. If a contractor or agent submits an application, agree who receives the decision and checks the conditions before scheduling cutting. Keep the specification connected to the correct tree throughout: a group order may cover more than the specimen that prompted your enquiry. Clear records support a lawful programme without promising any particular council decision.
What does a TPO control?
A TPO prohibits cutting down, topping, lopping, uprooting, wilful damage or wilful destruction without consent, unless a specific exception applies. Root cutting can also require consent, so excavation, driveway construction and trenching deserve the same early checks as pruning. Protection can cover trees standing in private gardens as well as prominent roadside specimens. Ownership does not remove the restrictions, and neither does a neighbour’s agreement. A protected tree remains the owner’s responsibility; the order does not transfer maintenance duties to the council or establish a compulsory routine pruning programme.
How to find out whether a tree has a TPO
Contact the local planning authority for the land where the tree stands, rather than choosing a council from the property’s postal town alone. Council boundaries and postal addresses do not always match. Use the council’s online tree preservation order map as a starting point, then request confirmation where records are unclear. Ask for the order, plan and schedule so the protected tree or woodland can be identified. An old order can still matter even where ownership has changed. Also check conservation-area boundaries and relevant planning conditions before assuming an unmarked tree is unrestricted.
Applying for consent and describing the work
An application should identify each tree, explain the reasons for work and describe the operation precisely. Requests such as “cut back hard” leave too much uncertainty. A simple site plan and clear photographs help connect the proposal to the correct tree. Claims about disease, structural damage or instability may require supporting professional evidence. Applications can be submitted through the Planning Portal; the linked Peterborough City Council page explains protected-tree submissions, which have no application fee. We help check status and prepare applications, but a clear specification cannot promise council approval.
Decisions, duration and requests for a new order
Submitting an application is not permission to start. Wait for the written decision and check the approved operations, conditions and consent period. A confirmed TPO does not simply expire when the owner changes or after a routine number of years. Ask the authority for the current order rather than relying on a verbal account. If you want a tree protected, you can ask the council to consider making a TPO and explain its public value; the decision belongs to the authority. Appeals and objections follow the relevant official procedures.
Dead trees, immediate danger and felling licences
Exceptions are narrowly defined. For work relying on the dead-tree exception, written notice is normally required at least five working days beforehand. Where action is urgently necessary to remove an immediate risk of serious harm, only the necessary work is covered and written notice should follow as soon as practicable. Record evidence where safe. Replacement duties can still arise. Unauthorised work can lead to prosecution: consult the government guidance rather than assuming a dangerous-tree label is sufficient. Forestry Commission felling licences may apply to larger volumes outside exempt locations such as gardens; check those rules separately.
Which council serves the tree’s location?
The planning authorities across our coverage include Peterborough City Council; South Kesteven for Stamford, Bourne and Market Deeping; South Holland for Spalding; Huntingdonshire for Huntingdon, St Neots and Ramsey; Fenland for March, Chatteris and Whittlesey; Cambridge City; North Northamptonshire for Kettering, Corby and Wellingborough; West Northamptonshire for Northampton; and Milton Keynes City Council. Confirm the actual boundary for the property, especially outside the named town centres. Our conservation-area guide explains the separate notice procedure. Tree surgery can be quoted while permissions are pending, but accepting an estimate does not authorise protected work.
Tree Preservation Orders: questions
Ownership does not override the order. Establish whether consent or a specific exception applies before felling. Wildlife law and any other restrictions also remain relevant, even when the tree is wholly within your boundary.
No. A confirmed order can continue through changes of ownership. Obtain the current council records, including the plan and schedule, rather than assuming a new owner starts with an unrestricted tree.
You can ask the local planning authority to consider protection and explain the tree’s amenity value and any apparent threat. The authority decides whether an order is justified; requesting one is not itself protection.
Further reading
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