Cutting Down "Your Own" Tree Can Still Be a Criminal Offence in the UK

This is general information for England, based on the national planning guidance, not legal advice. Your local planning authority makes the final call, not you, so confirm with the council before you cut anything significant, and certainly before felling.

How do you find out whether a tree is protected?

Ask your local planning authority, which is normally the council you pay council tax to, and do it before the chainsaw comes out of the shed. GOV.UK guidance says TPOs are available for public inspection at the council's offices, and confirmed Orders are recorded in the local land charges register. Trees in a conservation area can also be covered by notice rules even without an Order, which catches people who only checked for a TPO.

If you live in Enfield, the council has a statutory tree protection page that is the place to start. Ask for the answer in writing if you can, so you have something to show later if anyone questions what you checked.

The three situations below cover most garden trees.

If a tree is both in a conservation area and covered by a TPO, the TPO rules win; the stricter regime always applies.

What does a Tree Preservation Order stop you doing?

Without the council's consent, a TPO prohibits cutting down, topping, lopping, uprooting, and wilfully damaging or destroying the tree, and the list is deliberately broad rather than a loophole waiting to be found. Cutting the roots of a protected tree needs consent too, which people forget because roots are invisible. You apply on the council's application form for work to trees, which you can reach through the Planning Portal, with a sketch map of where the tree is, a description of the work, and your reasons. If the work is about damage or safety, evidence helps your case considerably.

The council should confirm that the application is valid within three working days. If it has not decided within eight weeks, you can appeal on grounds of non-determination, and if it refuses, you can appeal to the Planning Inspectorate. The Planning Portal says there is no fee for this type of application, and that consent lasts two years once the application is approved or the notice is given, so there is no real cost to asking first.

What happens in a conservation area?

You give the council six weeks' notice before most work, not permission, and the distinction matters. The council can then make a TPO, tell you the work can go ahead, or simply let the six weeks pass, after which you have two years to do the work. A notice is not an application, so the council cannot refuse it or attach conditions, but it can still make a TPO at any point in that window to stop the work outright.

Small trees are exempt, and the threshold is exact rather than a judgement call. GOV.UK says a notice is not needed for cutting, topping, lopping or uprooting a tree with a diameter of 75 mm or less, measured over the bark at 1.5 metres above the ground. For a tree with several stems, the exemption fails if any stem is over that limit at that height, so measure the worst stem, not an average.

Which jobs are exempt?

The exemptions are narrow by design, and the burden of proof sits with you, not the council. For TPO trees, GOV.UK lists:

• Dead branches on a living tree: no notice or consent is needed.
• A dead tree: five working days' written notice before cutting it down, unless the work is urgent.
• A dangerous tree: urgent work to remove an immediate risk of serious harm, limited to what is necessary, with written notice as soon as practicable afterwards.
• A legal duty: work required under an Act of Parliament.
• Nuisance: the minimum work needed to stop an actionable nuisance, meaning one causing actual damage or an immediate risk of it.
• Planning permission: work needed to carry out a full planning permission.
• Fruit trees: pruning in line with good horticultural practice.

A tree that is diseased or dying is not automatically exempt, and this catches people out more than any other point in this guide. It generally still needs consent unless another exemption applies; looking unwell is not enough on its own. Wildlife law applies even when a felling exemption does, so check for nesting birds first regardless, as explained in our guide to when to trim a hedge. Dealing with a neighbour's tree is a separate question again, covered in cutting your neighbour's overhanging branches.

What are the penalties?

Cutting down, uprooting or wilfully destroying a protected tree is a criminal offence, not a planning technicality. GOV.UK guidance gives the fine as up to £20,000 in a magistrates' court and unlimited in the Crown Court, but the current text of section 210 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 says only "a fine" for both, so do not treat £20,000 as a ceiling; it is not one. The court must consider any financial benefit from the offence, which closes off any temptation to treat the fine as simply the cost of getting the job done anyway. Section 211 applies the same penalty rules to work in a conservation area without the required notice.

There is also a replacement duty, and it is easy to miss until it lands on you. If a tree in a conservation area is removed in breach of the rules, or a tree in a conservation area or under a TPO (outside woodland) is removed because it was dead or dangerous, the landowner must plant a replacement of an appropriate size and species. The council can enforce this with a tree replacement notice, though it can also waive the duty.

Who should do the work?

Tree work is hazardous, and the Planning Portal says it should be done by trained, competent, insured arborists, with councils usually expecting work to meet British Standard BS 3998, not whatever gets the job done fastest. Planning guidance also advises talking to the council informally before you apply, and consulting a qualified arborist before you commit to anything.

Our tree surgery service starts with a free visit and a written quote. Whoever ends up doing the physical work, checking with the council first is the owner's responsibility alone, and it is the council, not your arborist, that decides.

Sources

• GOV.UK: Tree Preservation Orders and trees in conservation areas
• Planning Portal: Consent under Tree Preservation Orders

This article sets out Aspen Rose's own reading of the tree protection rules above, not legal advice. Whether a particular tree is protected, which exemption applies, or what a council will accept can be more nuanced than any summary allows, so confirm with your council, ideally in writing, before you cut anything.