Trees next door: protection, notices and overhanging branches

If a neighbour's tree is protected, the rules change completely, and the first thing to establish is which of three regimes applies. A tree covered by a Tree Preservation Order needs the council's written consent before anyone cuts it down, tops it, lops it or damages its roots. A tree in a conservation area needs six weeks' written notice to the council before works begin. A tree with neither protection can be pruned back to your boundary without asking anybody, subject to one or two conditions people usually get wrong.

Checking whether a tree is protected

Ask the council. Every local planning authority keeps a register of Tree Preservation Orders, most publish a map or a searchable list, and the tree officer will answer a direct question about a specific tree. Put the request in writing and keep the reply.

Three other sources of protection catch people out.

A tree can be protected by a planning condition on a permission granted years ago, typically a landscaping condition requiring retention of specified trees. Those are not in the Order register, so check the planning history of the neighbouring site on the authority's online register.

A tree can be in a conservation area without any Order at all, which brings the notice requirement rather than a consent requirement.

And a tree can be covered by a restrictive covenant, which is a private matter enforceable by whoever has the benefit of it and has nothing to do with the council.

Where a site is being developed, the retained trees are usually listed in an approved tree protection plan, and that plan is part of the permission. Our note on reading a decision notice as a neighbour explains how to work out which documents a permission actually incorporates.

The six week notice for trees in a conservation area

Section 211 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 requires six weeks' written notice to the local planning authority before carrying out works to a tree in a conservation area. The notice period gives the authority time to decide whether to make a Tree Preservation Order to protect the tree.

The threshold is size based. Trees with a stem diameter above 75 mm, measured at 1.5 m above ground level, are caught, with a slightly larger threshold where the work is thinning to help the growth of other trees. Below that size the requirement does not apply.

Carrying out the work without giving notice, or before the six weeks expire, is an offence. So is going ahead after the authority has made an Order in response, which it may well do.

The notice itself is short: your name and address, the location of the tree, a description of what you propose and why. There is no fee and no form prescribed nationally, though many authorities provide one.

Applying for consent to work on a protected tree

Works to a tree covered by an Order need an application for consent. There is no fee, the authority has eight weeks to decide, and there is a right of appeal to the Planning Inspectorate against a refusal or against conditions.

Support the application with a reason and, where the case is about condition or safety, an arboricultural report. An application that says the tree is too big carries no weight. One that says the tree has a decay pocket at the base identified by an arboriculturist, with the report attached, is a different proposition.

Some works are exempt from the consent requirement altogether, and the exemptions are narrower than people assume. They include removing a dead tree, cutting down or carrying out work to a tree to remove an immediate risk of serious harm, works required to implement a full planning permission, and work to fruit trees cultivated for fruit production. Most of the exemptions require notice to the authority, in writing and in advance where the situation allows, and the burden of proving that an exemption applied falls on the person who did the work.

Limited compensation provisions exist where loss or damage is caused by a refusal or by conditions attached to a consent, subject to conditions and time limits in the regulations. They are rarely used and should not be relied on as a plan.

Asking the council to make a Tree Preservation Order

Anybody can ask, and the request does not need to come from the tree's owner.

Write to the tree officer with the location, a description of the tree including species and approximate size, a photograph, and the two things the authority actually needs: why the tree has amenity value, and why it is under threat. Amenity value is about visibility and contribution to the area, so say where the tree can be seen from. Threat means something specific: a site notice for a planning application, a site clearance contractor on site, a felling notice, or works that have already started on an adjoining tree.

An Order takes effect provisionally as soon as it is made, which is why a credible threat matters. The authority then has six months to confirm it, during which objections can be made by the owner and by anyone else.

Authorities will not make an Order simply because a neighbour dislikes a planned extension, and an Order cannot be used to prevent development that has permission.

Overhanging branches and the common law position

Where a tree is not protected, you may cut back branches that overhang your land to the boundary line. The right comes from the common law of nuisance rather than from planning legislation, and it has four limits that matter.

• You may cut only to the boundary, not beyond it, and not into the neighbour's airspace
• You may not enter the neighbour's land to do the work without permission, which in practice often means the work cannot be done at all from your side
• The cut material, including fruit, belongs to the tree's owner, and should be offered back rather than tipped over the fence
• If the tree is protected, the common law right does not override the Order or the conservation area notice requirement, so you need consent or notice first

Roots follow the same principle, and cutting a root can destabilise a tree or kill it, which exposes you to a claim and, where the tree is protected, to prosecution. Get arboricultural advice before cutting anything thicker than a finger below ground.

Evergreen hedges are governed separately. Where a line of two or more mostly evergreen trees or shrubs over 2 m high is adversely affecting reasonable enjoyment of your property, and you have tried and failed to resolve it with the owner, you can complain to the council under the high hedges provisions in the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003. Councils charge a fee for this, and they will want evidence that you attempted to settle the matter first.

Trees on a development site and the protection plan

Where a neighbouring site has permission, the trees on it and the trees on your side whose roots extend into it should have been surveyed.

The relevant standard is the British Standard on trees in relation to design, demolition and construction, which produces a tree survey categorising each tree, a root protection area for each retained tree, a tree protection plan showing fencing positions, and an arboricultural method statement for any work inside a root protection area. A survey of this kind usually sits inside an arboricultural impact assessment, and councils expect a suitably qualified author with professional review before submission.

What to look for as a neighbour is the fencing. Protective fencing is normally required by condition to be erected before any works begin and retained throughout construction, and storing materials, mixing concrete or parking plant inside a root protection area is the most common breach. Photograph it with dates.

Where a condition about tree protection is being breached, a breach of condition notice is one of the tools the authority has, and our note on breach of condition notices sets out what it achieves and how quickly.

Reporting unauthorised works

Cutting down or damaging a tree protected by an Order, or carrying out works to a conservation area tree without notice, is a criminal offence. Fines on conviction can be substantial, and where a protected tree is removed in contravention there is a duty to plant a replacement tree of appropriate size and species in the same place.

Report it to the council's tree officer the same day if you can. What helps a prosecution is evidence: dated photographs before and after, the time the work happened, a description or photograph of the vehicle and any contractor signage, and the stump, which an arboriculturist can examine for ring count and for signs of decay that would support or undermine a claimed exemption.

Then follow it up. Enforcement cases go quiet, and our note on how to get an update on an enforcement case explains what you are entitled to be told.

If you want to understand which supporting documents a neighbouring application should have included on trees and landscape, you can look through the report types and compare them with what was submitted.

This is general guidance, not legal advice, so 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.