• Trees: Tree Preservation Order guidance

Trees: Tree Preservation Order guidance

Thomson Ecology provides guidance on Tree Preservation Orders and trees within Conservation Areas.

Legal protection
Trees can be legally protected by Tree Preservation Orders (TPOs), Conservation Areas and planning conditions.  TPOs and Conservation Areas are enforced under the Town and Country Planning (Tree Preservation) (England) Regulations 2012.  This means that no work can be carried out on a protected tree or trees without the prior consent of the local planning authority.  Contravention of a TPO can lead to unlimited fines for the destruction of a TPO tree or up to £2,500 for other offences.  The onus on the landowner or developer can be daunting but our arboriculture team is here to help.

1App

In October 2008 the 1App planning portal was introduced.  This means that applications for work to trees protected by a TPO must now be completed on a standardised form.  We can undertake this process for you, including advising on the tree work itself.

Pre-application consultation

For contentious or large applications involving a significant number of trees it is often best to arrange a pre-application, consultation with the local planning authority to ensure that the proposed works, and their justification, are clearly understood. Our team is experienced in this negotiation process.

Appeals and objections

If you are the owner of, or have an interest in, trees upon which a TPO has recently been served and believe that the TPO is unwarranted we can assist in preparing a formal objection.  Objections must be submitted in writing within 28 days of the TPO serving date, so it is necessary to act quickly.  Inform us as soon as the order has been served and we will then judge whether your TPO objection is likely to be successful and prepare a formal report to support it.  Similarly, if your application has been refused we can review the refusal to determine whether it was warranted and whether there is justification for an appeal.

Conservation Areas

Trees in Conservation Areas (a designation based on the architecture, history and character of the buildings in an area) are similarly protected,  However, in this case, the local planning authority requires six weeks notice before the intended work can be carried out.  This is in order for them to determine whether there is justification for a TPO to be served.  If you have an interest in land within a Conservation Area, we can assist by determining whether the serving of a TPO will be a likely response of the local planning authority to a notification, and, if so, how works can be prescribed to reduce the likelihood of this.  This a process we can see through from start to finish by identifying tree works, making the notification and then arranging the tree works.