Usually, no. If a tree stands in your own garden and is not legally protected, you do not normally need anyone’s permission to fell it. The catch sits in the word protected. A tree can be covered by a Tree Preservation Order, or sit inside a conservation area, without the owner ever having been told, and felling the wrong tree can bring fines, which for the most serious breaches can be unlimited. So before anyone starts a saw, make three quick checks: preservation orders, conservation areas and the felling licence rules. All three cost nothing and take minutes.
Check one: is there a Tree Preservation Order?
A Tree Preservation Order, or TPO, is made by the local council and makes it an offence to fell, top, lop or uproot the tree without the council’s written consent. Orders attach to the tree, not the owner, so they survive a change of ownership, and plenty of people discover one only after living beside the tree for years. Mature garden trees are a common subject, especially in older residential streets or where development has taken place nearby.
The council’s register is the definitive record, and checking it is free. Many planning departments will confirm by phone or email whether an order applies to your address, and our free checker, Is my tree protected?, walks you through the same questions step by step. If an order does apply, you must apply for consent before felling or significant pruning, and the council can refuse or approve with conditions. It is never safe to assume.
Check two: are you in a conservation area?
Conservation areas catch people out because the protection is automatic. Inside one, most trees above a modest size are covered even where no preservation order exists. You cannot simply fell. You must first give the council six weeks’ written notice, known as a Section 211 notice. It is a notice rather than an application: you tell the council what you intend to do, and the six weeks give it time either to let the work proceed or to protect the tree with a preservation order. Doing the work without notice is treated in much the same way as breaching an order.
Conservation area boundaries are shown on your council’s planning pages, and again the council’s own records are the definitive record. Plenty of streets across Preston and wider Lancashire sit inside a conservation area without their residents ever thinking of them that way, so the check is worth the two minutes it takes.
Check three: could a felling licence apply?
Felling licences come from the Forestry Commission rather than the council, and they exist to control larger-scale felling, not routine garden work. Trees within a garden are generally exempt, and so are hedges, which is why most domestic jobs never touch the rules. Where they can apply is on bigger plots: a paddock, a belt of trees beyond the garden fence, anything that feels more like woodland than garden. If that sounds like your situation, or you plan to fell several trees at once, check the current guidance on the Forestry Commission website before starting. Bear in mind that a licence is not an alternative to the other two checks: preservation orders, conservation areas and licensing each apply separately.
Nesting birds and basic safety
Even a tree with no legal protection is not always free to fell on the day you choose. Wild birds and their active nests are protected by law, and destroying a nest in use can be an offence whatever the tree’s status. The nesting season runs broadly through spring and into summer, so check the canopy carefully before work begins, and if a nest is occupied, wait until it is empty or take advice first.
Then there is the practical side. Felling looks straightforward in an open field and is anything but in a garden, where the house, the shed, a neighbour’s fence and sometimes overhead cables all sit within falling distance. Dismantling a tree in sections, lowering timber on ropes and working a chainsaw at height are skilled jobs, so whoever does the work should be trained, competent and properly insured. Our own advice always stands alone: nothing our team tells you depends on us doing the felling, and you are free to take that advice to any contractor you choose. We do carry out tree work ourselves, as an ARB Approved Contractor (AC2637) with five million pounds of public liability insurance, but the check comes first and stands on its own.
Not sure? Check before you cut
The order of events matters: check first, cut second. A felled tree cannot be put back, and none of the three checks costs anything or takes more than a few minutes. Start with the free checker, confirm anything doubtful with the council, whose registers remain the definitive record, and read the Forestry Commission guidance if your plans go beyond the garden. If you would rather have a professional eye on the question, our surveyors carry out tree surveys across Preston, Lancashire and the North West, quotes come within one working day, and the price we quote is the price you pay.
If you are unsure what your council needs, or whether your tree needs anything at all, use the free scope check form on our tree surveys page or call our team on 01772 369694. We will tell you what you need, and just as readily what you do not.
