Do You Need Planning Permission for Tree Work?

Planning permission is for development: building, engineering works and material changes of use. Cutting down or pruning a tree isn't development, so there's no planning application to make for it.

That's where people get caught out. "I don't need planning permission" is true, but the controls that do apply to trees sit in other parts of planning law, and they're enforced just as firmly.

• A Tree Preservation Order. Felling, pruning, uprooting or damaging the tree needs the council's consent. The application is free and the council has eight weeks to decide.
• A conservation area. For most trees with a trunk more than 75mm across at 1.5m high, you give the council six weeks' written notice before the work. The council can respond by making a TPO.
• A planning condition. Past planning permissions often require named trees to be kept, sometimes for a set number of years. Work that breaches the condition needs the council's approval.
• A felling licence. Felling more than five cubic metres of timber in a calendar quarter usually needs a licence from the Forestry Commission in England. Gardens, orchards, churchyards and public open spaces are exempt.

A tree can be covered by more than one of these at once.

If you're building something, trees and planning do meet. Councils usually expect a planning application to show the trees on and next to the site, and many ask for a tree survey to BS 5837:2012 where trees could be affected.

A full planning permission can authorise felling or pruning a protected tree where the work is necessary to carry out the permitted development. That exemption doesn't extend to outline permission or to permitted development rights. If you're building an extension under permitted development near a protected tree, any work that harms the tree still needs TPO consent. Our guide to building near a protected tree covers this in more detail.

To check what you can build without an application, the Permitted Development Checker sets out the rules for extensions and outbuildings.

Even with no planning control at all, a few other rules apply to any tree:

• Nesting birds. Damaging an active nest is an offence, so heavy work is best kept out of the nesting season, roughly March to August.
• Bats. Many older trees have roosts, and disturbing one is an offence. A tree surgeon should check for signs before felling.
• Restrictive covenants in the property's deeds, which can require trees to be kept.
• Ownership. If the tree isn't wholly yours, you need the owner's agreement to anything beyond cutting back overhanging branches.

1. 1Search the postcode for published TPO zones and conservation areas.
2. 2Ask the council's tree officer whether the tree has a TPO or sits in a conservation area.
3. 3Look through the planning history for the address for any conditions on trees.
4. 4Check the deeds for covenants if you have them.
5. 5Get any consent or the notice acknowledgement in writing before booking the work.