Protected trees, and the fine for getting it wrong

What a preservation order stops

A Tree Preservation Order prohibits cutting down, topping, lopping, uprooting, wilfully damaging or wilfully destroying the tree without the council’s written consent. Topping and lopping matter here: a trade clearing a branch for scaffolding or a roof is doing exactly the thing an Order covers.

In a conservation area, trees with no Order are protected separately and need six weeks’ notice instead. Either way, the tree in the way of your access is not automatically yours to cut.

The penalty, and why it is not a fixed sum

Cutting down, uprooting or destroying a protected tree is an offence under section 210 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, triable summarily or on indictment, with a fine that carries no stated maximum. Lesser contraventions carry a fine up to level 4 on the standard scale.

The part worth reading twice is section 210(3): in setting the fine the court must have particular regard to any financial benefit that has accrued or appears likely to accrue as a result of the offence. Clearing a tree because it was cheaper than working around it is the aggravating factor, in statute.

The exceptions, and the notice they still need

Dead trees may be removed, but with five working days’ written notice beforehand — dead branches on a living tree are exempt outright. A tree presenting an immediate risk of serious harm may be dealt with, with notice given after the work.

Other exemptions cover complying with a statutory obligation, preventing a legal nuisance, implementing a granted planning permission, and fruit tree cultivation. "It looked dead" is not among them, and the burden of showing an exemption applies sits with whoever did the work.

And the tree has to be replaced

Where a protected tree is removed, the owner has a duty to plant a replacement of appropriate size and species as soon as reasonably possible, enforced by notice. That obligation attaches to the land, so it outlives the job.

Tradecue shows planning constraints recorded against an application, but a Tree Preservation Order is held on the council’s own register and is the thing to check before quoting anything involving access, scaffolding or a roof near a mature tree.

Sources

• Tree preservation orders and trees in conservation areas (GOV.UK)
• Town and Country Planning Act 1990, section 210

General explanation, not legal or planning advice. Anything that turns on the detail of a particular site is worth a free phone call to the council’s planning department. Something here wrong or out of date? Tell us.