Tree Preservation Orders

A TPO is made by the local planning authority (usually a local or county council) to protect specific trees or a woodland from deliberate damage and destruction. TPOs prevent the felling, lopping, topping, uprooting or other damaging of trees without the permission of the local planning authority. They can be made very quickly and in practice it is normal for a council to make an emergency TPO in less than a day in cases of immediate danger to trees.  However, consultation and confirmation must follow.  If the case is not urgent it can take many months. 

Once a TPO is made it is usually immediately effective, to be followed within six months by confirmation but can be terminated at any time, with or without modifications. Modifications can be a change in description or map details, or a removal of certain trees from the order, but cannot include extra trees to be protected - it is usually necessary to make a new order. The landowner is still responsible for the trees, their condition and any damage they might cause at all times. 

Details of orders, applications for work and decisions are kept by the local authority and should be available for public inspection. 

A landowner is also served notice if a new order is made on their land. It is normal, but not required, for other interested parties (for example neighbours, parish councils etc) to be sent copies of new orders too. There is no requirement for applications to do work to protected trees to be advertised, although many authorities choose to do so.

In practice TPOs are most commonly used in urban and semi-urban settings. A TPO can be viewed as a system to protect trees for the public's enjoyment and so it is made for the 'amenity' of the tree or woodland, and this can include its nature conservation value as well as its visual amenity. However, it does mean that if a tree is not visible or accessible from a public place - even slightly- a TPO usually cannot be made.  In these cases wildlife interest or evidence that the tree may be 'a veteran tree in the making' could be cited.

TPOs can be placed on any trees including hedgerow trees but not hedges themselves. The current working definition, in line with DTLR guidance, is that a tree should be a single-stemmed woody perennial plant. This can be a tiny shoot as well as a full-grown tree. Interestingly, it can (theoretically) therefore exclude multi-stemmed trees such as coppiced hazel in some circumstances.  There are some requirements that are TPO exempt and cannot be prevented under a TPO even if one is granted.  These requirements are: 

1. Works approved by the Forestry Commission under a felling licence or other approved scheme.
2. Felling or working on a dead, dying or dangerous tree.
3. Where there is an obligation under an Act of Parliament.
4. Works at the request of certain agencies or organisations which are specified in the Order.
5. Works where there is a direct need to work on the tree to allow development to commence for which detailed planning permission has been obtained
6. Works to fruit trees cultivated in the course of a business for fruit production, as long as the tree work is in the interests of that business. This means that fruit trees are not automatically exempt unless they are actively being used for a business.
7. Works to prevent or control a nuisance in the legal sense.

It is also not common for TPOs to be put upon trees on land controlled by a local authority, or the Crown.   Another common situation is where a planning application has been made which includes a 'landscape plan' or some similar provision. If this plan or description is approved, it may effectively override any TPOs which exist on the land even if this is not specifically mentioned.

There are four types of TPO,although any one order can contain any number of items which can be of one or more types. The types are as follows:  

• Individual: can be applied to an individual tree.
• Group: can be applied to a group of individual trees which, together, make up a feature of amenity value but which separately might not.
• Area: a type of TPO not normally used now but still common. It covers all trees in a defined area at the time the order was made.
• Woodland: covers all trees within a woodland area regardless of how old they are.

TPOs are public documents and can be inspected at the local planning authority's office. Attached to the TPO is usually a schedule and a map. The schedule shows the type/s of TPO which make up the order, and often gives details of the species of trees affected.  Because some TPOs are quite old some landowners might not know that they have a TPO on their trees. However, if at any time a property is sold and a solicitor conducts a search, as is normal when conveyancing a  property, the existence of the TPO will be brought to the attention of the owner.  To find out if your trees are protected, contact the local Planning Authority. If your trees are protected, you need written permission to remove them, or to do any tree surgery. If you remove trees or do work to them without permission you could be prosecuted.

Tree preservation outside of TPOs does exist, notably in Conservation Areas, which areas designated by local authorities for building and landscape conservation. To work on trees within a Conservation Area a landowner needs to give six weeks notice in writing to the local authority so in effect this is the same level of preservation as offered by a TPO.

As part of its Count to Tree campaign the International Tree Foundation wants to encourage local councils to list TPOs on their websites so that the information can be accessed quickly and cheaply by everyone.   If you would like to know more, please email us  or phone us on 0870 7744269 to discover how you can help us to ensure that TPO information is easy to obtain.