Tree Preservation Orders: area orders against individual trees

A Tree Preservation Order can protect a single named tree, a group, a woodland or every tree standing in a defined area, and the four Tree Preservation Order types behave very differently. The one that surprises people is the area order. It protects the trees that were there on the day the order was made and nothing planted since, which means a 1970s area order over a housing estate may now cover far fewer trees than the map suggests.

Knowing which classification applies to your tree decides whether you need consent, what the council will look at and what happens if you get it wrong.

The four ways trees are protected in an order

The model order in the Town and Country Planning (Tree Preservation) (England) Regulations 2012 uses four classifications, and every order has to say which applies to each entry.

Individual trees are listed one by one, usually numbered T1, T2 and so on, and shown on the map as a dot. The species is normally named. Protection attaches to that specific tree.

Groups are shown as G1, G2 and so on, with the trees enclosed by a line on the map. The point of a group classification is collective impact: the council is protecting the effect of the trees together, so the loss of one member of the group matters even where that tree on its own would not have been worth an order.

Woodlands are shown as W1 and hatched on the map. A woodland classification protects all the trees within the area, including trees that grow up after the order was made. That last part is what distinguishes woodland from area classification, and it is deliberate, because a woodland is a living system rather than a fixed set of stems.

Areas are shown as A1 and enclosed on the map. An area classification protects all the trees of whatever species that were within that area at the time the order was made.

Why area orders behave differently

Area orders were a quick way to protect a whole site under threat, and they were used heavily in the decades after the system was introduced.

Planning practice guidance now treats the area classification as a temporary measure. Authorities are encouraged to survey area orders and replace them with individual, group or woodland classifications, because an area order becomes progressively harder to interpret as time passes.

The interpretation problem is real. An area order made in 1974 protects the trees standing in that area in 1974. Fifty years later some have died, some have been removed lawfully and many have self-seeded or been planted. Nobody has a schedule of what was there. The council has to prove that a particular tree existed at the date of the order before it can prove a breach, and the owner has to guess whether their tree is covered.

If your council still has area orders and you are planning work, ask the tree officer in writing which trees they consider protected and keep the reply.

Trees that grew after the order was made

The rule differs by classification and it is worth setting out plainly.

A replacement tree planted under a condition or a replacement duty may itself be protected by the original order, depending on how the order and the duty operate. That is a point on which advice is worth taking rather than assuming.

Finding out which trees are covered

Start with the council. Every local planning authority keeps a register of Tree Preservation Orders, and most publish an online map. The register should give the order number, the date it was made and confirmed, the schedule of trees and the map.

A local land charges search will reveal an order affecting the property, which is why orders usually surface during conveyancing.

Where the tree stands in a conservation area but is not covered by an order, a different rule applies. Section 211 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 requires six weeks' written notice to the council before most works to trees in a conservation area, which gives the authority the chance to make an order.

For any project where trees will be near construction, commission a Tree Survey to BS 5837:2012 early. The surveyor records each tree, its condition and category, and the root protection area, and will pick up protection status as part of the exercise.

Applying for consent to work on a protected tree

Works to a protected tree need the council's consent, and the application is free of charge.

The application should describe the work in arboricultural terms rather than in general ones. "Crown reduction of 2 metres to the northern aspect, with a final crown height of 9 metres" is assessable. "Cut back the tree" is not. Include a plan showing the tree, photographs, and a short statement of the reason.

Councils have eight weeks to decide. And a refusal, or a consent with conditions you cannot live with, can be appealed to the Planning Inspectorate.

The reasons that succeed are the ones supported by evidence. Structural damage evidenced by a report, subsidence with monitoring data, a genuine safety concern with an arboricultural assessment. The reasons that rarely succeed on their own are leaf fall, shading of a garden, honeydew, and blocked light to a room, though a proportionate reduction is often granted where the tree can take it.

Where a large scheme involves several protected trees, tie the arboricultural case to the wider planting proposals in a Landscape Strategy so the council can see the long term canopy position rather than a series of losses.

Dead and dangerous trees, and the notice you must give

Some works are exempt from the need for consent, and the exemptions are narrower than most people believe.

Works to a dead tree, and the removal of dead branches from a living tree, are exempt. So are works urgently necessary to remove an immediate risk of serious harm. So are works required by an Act of Parliament, and certain works to fruit trees cultivated for fruit production.

Two conditions attach. For a dead tree, five working days' written notice must be given to the council before the work, so that the authority can inspect. Where the risk is immediate and the work cannot wait, notice must be given as soon as practicable afterwards.

Photograph the tree before, during and after. Where a dispute arises, the burden of showing that an exemption applied falls on the person who carried out the work.

Penalties and the duty to replace

Cutting down, uprooting or wilfully destroying a protected tree without consent is an offence under section 210 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, and the fine on conviction in the Crown Court is unlimited. Lesser contraventions, such as unauthorised pruning that does not destroy the tree, carry a lower maximum.

Separately, section 206 imposes a duty to plant a replacement tree of appropriate size and species, in the same place, as soon as reasonably practicable. That duty applies where a tree is removed in contravention of an order and also where it is removed under the dead or dangerous exemptions. The replacement is then protected by the original order.

Councils enforce the replacement duty by notice, and the notice runs with the land, so a purchaser can inherit it.

You can browse all 66 PlanScope report types to see which documents a project involving protected trees is likely to need, or enter your postcode to check the constraints on your site.

This is general guidance, not legal advice. Check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional 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.