Tree preservation orders in Hertfordshire: TPOs and conservation areas explained
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Tree preservation orders in Hertfordshire, and conservation areas, decide whether you need the council's permission before tree work. Here is what is covered, how consent works and what is exempt.
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What a tree preservation order is
A tree preservation order, or TPO, is made by your local council to protect a tree, a group of trees or a woodland that matters to the area. It is made under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, and it stays with the land when the house is sold.
With a TPO in place, you need the council's written consent before you cut down, top, lop, uproot, wilfully damage or wilfully destroy the tree. That covers pruning and crown reduction as well as felling.
How to apply for consent
You apply to the council's tree team, online through the Planning Portal or direct to the council. There is no fee. You say which trees, what work and why, and the council has eight weeks to decide.
If consent is refused, or granted with conditions you cannot live with, you can appeal to the Planning Inspectorate. When we price a job on a protected tree, we describe the work in the terms the council expects to see.
Trees in a conservation area
In a conservation area, every tree with a trunk more than 75mm across, measured 1.5 metres above the ground, is protected even without a TPO. Before any work you must give the council six weeks' written notice, known as a section 211 notice.
In those six weeks the council either lets the work go ahead or makes a TPO to stop it. If you hear nothing after six weeks, the work can go ahead, as long as it is done within two years.
What is exempt
Removing dead branches from a living tree is exempt. Cutting down a dead tree is exempt too, but the council must be given five working days' notice first, except in an emergency.
Work that is urgently needed to remove an immediate risk of serious harm is exempt, but only as far as the danger needs, and you must tell the council in writing as soon as you can. Fruit trees grown for their fruit are exempt from some of the rules.
What happens if you get it wrong
Cutting down or wilfully destroying a protected tree without consent is a criminal offence with an unlimited fine. Other unauthorised work on a protected tree carries a fine of up to £2,500, and the council can order a replacement tree to be planted.
The landowner is liable as well as the person who did the cutting, which is why we check before any work is booked.
Overhanging branches and high hedges
You can cut back branches from a neighbour's tree that overhang your land, back to the boundary, but not beyond it, and not on a protected tree without consent. The cut wood belongs to the tree's owner.
If a neighbour's evergreen hedge over two metres tall is blocking light, and talking has not worked, the council can deal with a high hedge complaint under the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003.
Which council decides for your tree
The local planning authority holds the TPO register and the conservation area maps.
- Dacorum Borough Council (Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted, Tring, Kings Langley, Bovingdon)
- St Albans City and District Council (St Albans, Harpenden, Redbourn)
- Three Rivers District Council (Rickmansworth, Chorleywood, Abbots Langley)
- Watford Borough Council
- Hertsmere Borough Council (Bushey, Potters Bar)
- Stevenage Borough Council
- Luton Borough Council
- Central Bedfordshire Council (Dunstable)
- Buckinghamshire Council (Chesham, Amersham)
- The London boroughs: Harrow, Hillingdon, Brent and Barnet
Straight answers before you book
How do I find out if my tree has a TPO?
Do I need permission to prune a protected tree?
How long does TPO consent take?
Can I cut down a dangerous protected tree?
Is there a fee for a TPO application?
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