Tree works applications are free: what the evidence costs

There is no application fee for consent to carry out works to a tree protected by a Tree Preservation Order, and no fee for giving notice of works to a tree in a conservation area. The Town and Country Planning (Tree Preservation) (England) Regulations 2012 set out the consent procedure without charging for it, and a section 211 notice under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 is free as well. So the cost of a tree works application sits entirely in the evidence and the contractor.

That catches people out in both directions. Householders expecting a bill of a few hundred pounds find the council asks for nothing, then discover the arboricultural report and the tree surgeon are the real expenditure.

No fee for consent to work on a protected tree

The application is made on the standard tree works form, usually through the Planning Portal, and it asks for the trees, the works proposed and the reasons. The authority has eight weeks to decide a Tree Preservation Order application. If it does not decide within that period, consent is deemed to be granted on the terms applied for, which is a useful safeguard and one of the reasons the form has to describe the works precisely.

Precision matters because the deemed consent follows the wording you used. "Reduce crown" is not a specification. "Reduce lateral branches on the eastern aspect by up to 2 m, retaining a balanced crown, in accordance with BS 3998" is.

Some works need no application at all. Dead trees can be removed after giving the authority five days written notice, except in an emergency, and works to remove an immediate risk of serious harm are exempt, though the authority must be notified as soon as practicable afterwards. The exemption is narrower than people assume, and relying on it without evidence is how prosecutions start.

The arboricultural report the council expects

For anything beyond routine pruning, the tree officer will want a report from a consultant arboriculturist. There is no statutory requirement for one on a simple TPO application, but a refusal is far more likely where the reasons given are a bare assertion that the tree is too big or drops leaves.

What a useful report contains:

• the tree's species, approximate age class, dimensions and condition
• the defect or constraint being relied on, with the inspection method stated
• the works specified to BS 3998 with retained crown form described
• the effect on amenity and on the tree's long-term retention
• where subsidence is alleged, soil and structural evidence linking the tree to the damage

Subsidence claims are the ones that fail most often. A tree officer who receives a claim with no soil investigation, no monitoring of crack movement and no root identification will usually refuse, and that outcome is defensible on appeal.

Costs for this work are quoted as professional time rather than as a fixed product. Expect a site visit, a climbing or aerial inspection where defects are suspected, and reporting time, with decay detection equipment charged separately. Ask for the quote to state what inspection level is included, because a ground-level visual assessment and a detailed decay investigation are different exercises with different price tags.

A council usually expects a tree report from a suitably qualified author, typically a consultant arboriculturist with a relevant qualification and professional membership, and professional review of any draft is strongly advised. The tree survey and Arboricultural Impact Assessment page sets out what the planning version of that document covers.

Section 211 notices in a conservation area

Trees in a conservation area that are not already covered by an Order are protected by a notification regime instead. You give the authority six weeks notice of the proposed works, and during that period the authority can either do nothing, in which case the works may proceed within two years, or make a Tree Preservation Order to protect the tree.

Again, no fee. The trade-off is that the six weeks is a real wait, and the outcome is uncertain in a way a TPO application is not, because the authority's response to a notice can be a new Order rather than a refusal.

Small trees are outside the regime. Works to trees below 7.5 cm diameter measured at 1.5 m above ground are exempt, with a 10 cm threshold where the work is thinning to help the growth of other trees. Measure before you assume, and keep the photograph.

Costs where the council refuses

A refusal of consent under a Tree Preservation Order carries a right of appeal to the Secretary of State, handled by the Planning Inspectorate, and the appeal itself has no fee. The cost is the professional time in preparing the statement of case, plus any further arboricultural evidence the appeal needs.

There is also a compensation route. The 2012 Regulations allow a claim against the authority for loss or damage caused by a refusal or by conditions, subject to limits and to the claim being made within the prescribed period. Claims are not common, and they generally need the loss to be quantified and foreseeable rather than speculative.

But think about sequencing before appealing. Where the works are needed to enable development, a refused tree application can leave a consent unimplementable, and that is the same trap described in the guidance on the cost of a pre-commencement condition you cannot discharge.

Specification, access and equipment

The tree surgeon's quote is driven by access and risk rather than by the size of the tree alone. A mature lime at the back of a terraced garden with no vehicle access, overhead cables and a glasshouse beneath it costs considerably more to work on than the same tree in an open field.

Factors that move the figure:

1. Vehicle and chipper access, and whether arisings have to be carried through the house
2. Proximity of buildings, boundaries and services, which may require sectional dismantling
3. Traffic management or a highway licence where the work is over a footway or carriageway
4. Protected species constraints, since bats and nesting birds can stop work outright and shift it outside the breeding season

That last point is worth planning around. Breeding bird season runs broadly from March to August, and a tree with bat roost potential needs an assessment before felling, which can add weeks.

Where the real expense sits

Add it up for a typical householder case and the free application is a small part of the picture. The arboricultural report, the tree work itself, and in a disputed case the appeal evidence, are the budget. The council's part costs nothing and takes eight weeks.

That asymmetry argues for spending money at the front end. A properly specified application with a credible report attached is decided more quickly and refused less often than a bare form, and the difference in professional fees is usually smaller than the cost of a second attempt.

If the tree work sits alongside a planning application, the tree evidence has to serve both purposes, and the document the planning side needs is a BS 5837 survey rather than a condition report. PlanScope's pricing is one free report, £50 per report, or £150 a month on the Professional tier for unlimited reports, and you can see what is included on the pricing page. Fee exemptions elsewhere in the planning system work on a similar logic, as explained in the guidance on planning fee exemptions for disabled adaptations. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.

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