Section 211 notices: six weeks in a conservation area

A section 211 notice trees procedure applies to any tree in a conservation area that is not already covered by a Tree Preservation Order. You give the council six weeks' written notice of the works you intend to carry out. You do not apply for consent, and the council does not grant it. At the end of six weeks, unless the authority has made an order, you may go ahead.

That distinction confuses people who have dealt with a protected tree before. A TPO application is a request. A section 211 notice is a warning shot that gives the council time to decide whether it wants to protect the tree.

What section 211 requires, and of whom

Section 211 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 makes it an offence to cut down, top, lop, uproot, wilfully damage or wilfully destroy a tree in a conservation area without giving the local planning authority six weeks' notice.

The duty falls on whoever carries out or causes the works, which means the tree surgeon as well as the owner. Reputable contractors ask for the notice before they quote, and a contractor who does not ask is a reason to find another one.

The notice must identify the tree and describe the works. There is no nationally prescribed form, and most councils publish their own or accept a submission through the Planning Portal. Whatever route you use, keep the acknowledgement, because the six weeks runs from the date the authority receives the notice rather than the date you sent it.

Works to a tree already covered by a Tree Preservation Order are outside this procedure entirely. Those need a formal application for consent, decided in eight weeks, with a right of appeal.

The six weeks and what happens in it

Three outcomes are possible, and only one of them is slow.

The council does nothing. At the end of six weeks the works may proceed. Silence is the most common outcome for routine pruning of an unremarkable tree.

The council tells you in writing that it has no objection. You may then proceed immediately without waiting out the period, which is worth asking for where a contractor slot depends on it.

The council makes a Tree Preservation Order. The tree is then protected, and the works you described require a formal application for consent. Authorities use the six weeks precisely for this purpose, so a notice to fell a good specimen oak in a conservation area is, in effect, an invitation to the tree officer to visit.

A fourth possibility exists in practice. The tree officer telephones and negotiates, suggesting a reduction instead of a felling, and you withdraw and resubmit. That costs a fortnight and usually produces a better outcome than a refused consent under a new order.

Trees excluded by size and circumstance

Not every tree in a conservation area needs a notice, and the exclusions in the Tree Preservation Regulations 2012 are drawn by measurement.

• Trees with a stem diameter of less than 75 mm, measured at 1.5 m above ground level.
• Trees with a stem diameter of less than 100 mm where the work is thinning to improve the growth of other trees.
• Dead trees, subject to the notice requirements that apply to dead and dangerous trees.
• Work required to implement a full planning permission already granted.
• Work carried out by or on behalf of certain statutory bodies, and work required under other statutory obligations.

Measure before you assume. A multi-stemmed tree is measured differently from a single stem, and 75 mm of diameter is a slender stem, roughly the width of a mug. Most garden trees worth removing are well over it.

The exemption for implementing a planning permission is narrower than it looks. It covers works necessary to carry out development that has been granted permission, not works you would like to do while the builders are on site.

Describing the works in the notice

The description in a section 211 notice matters for the same reason it matters in a TPO application. You may only carry out the works you described. Do more and you are outside the notice.

Use the terminology of the British Standard on tree work and give figures. Crown reduction expressed as a reduction in metres with the intended final height and spread. Crown lifting to a stated height above ground. Thinning as a percentage of leaf area. Felling described as felling, with what happens to the stump. Identify each tree by species and position, keyed to a simple plan, and include photographs.

Where the trees form part of a development site, the same descriptions should appear in the Arboricultural Impact Assessment and on the tree protection plan. Officers do check that the two documents agree, and a discrepancy invites a site visit.

Give your reasons even though the notice does not require them. A tree officer deciding whether to make an order in six weeks will look more favourably on a proportionate reduction explained in two sentences than on a bare instruction to fell.

When the council responds with an order

If a Tree Preservation Order is made, it takes effect provisionally as soon as it is served and lasts six months unless confirmed. The council must give you the chance to object, and it must consider objections before confirming.

Object in writing within the stated period, on grounds the authority can weigh: the condition of the tree, the risk it poses, the damage it is causing, the practical alternatives you have offered. Amenity value is the council's test, so evidence about visibility from public places, contribution to the character of the area and the tree's health is what the decision turns on.

Once an order is confirmed, work requires a formal application for consent, and a refusal can be appealed to the Planning Inspectorate. That is a longer road, and it is the reason a well-framed notice with photographs and a clear rationale is worth the hour it takes to prepare.

Carrying out the works, and the two-year limit

Two constraints apply after the six weeks expire.

The works must be carried out within two years of the date of the notice. After that the notice lapses and a fresh one is required, which gives the council another opportunity to make an order.

And the protections that sit outside tree law still apply. Nesting birds are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 throughout the breeding season, and bats using a tree require a licensed ecologist before any work starts. Neither is displaced by a section 211 notice.

Where a tree in a conservation area is removed in contravention of section 211, the duty to plant a replacement under section 213 of the 1990 Act bites, and the replacement then attracts the same protection. Councils do enforce this, and a replacement tree ordered by notice is rarely the species anyone wanted.

Plan the replanting yourself instead. Where works form part of a wider scheme, set the replacements out in a Landscape Strategy so the council can see what the area gains, and browse the 66 report types to check what else the site will need.

This is general guidance and not legal advice. Check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified arboriculturist before relying on it. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.