You cannot make a Tree Preservation Order yourself, but anyone can ask the local council to make one — and a clear, well-evidenced request is a recognised route by which valued trees get protected, especially when one is suddenly under threat. The council alone holds the power, it decides using an "amenity" test, and — crucially — it can act within hours when a tree is at imminent risk. This guide walks through who can ask, how to build the case, and how to move fast enough to actually save a tree.
Who can request a TPO
Only the local planning authority can make a Tree Preservation Order, under Part VIII of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and the Town and Country Planning (Tree Preservation)(England) Regulations 2012. But the request can come from anyone:
- a resident or neighbour who values the tree;
- a parish or town council;
- an amenity, residents' or community group;
- a ward councillor raising it on a constituent's behalf;
- or a council officer spotting it during casework.
In practice a large share of TPOs are prompted by members of the public. You do not need to own the tree, own adjoining land, or have any legal interest — you are asking the council to exercise its own statutory power, not a right of your own. That also means you cannot compel it: the council weighs your case and decides.
Step 1: Identify the right council
TPOs are local. Send your request to the local planning authority for the tree's address — usually the district or borough council in two-tier county areas, or the unitary/metropolitan council elsewhere. Get this wrong and your request sits in the wrong inbox while the tree comes down.
If you're unsure which authority covers the postcode, our TPO checker points you to the right council, and it is worth checking first whether the tree already has a TPO so you don't duplicate existing protection or waste time on a tree that is already covered.
Step 2: Understand the amenity test
A council will only make a TPO where a tree has amenity value. There is no rigid statutory formula, and the judgement is the tree officer's, but councils consistently look for a tree that:
- is visible to the public — from a road, footpath, park or other public vantage point (a tree hidden deep in a back garden, seen by nobody, rarely qualifies);
- makes a real contribution to the character or appearance of the area — as a landmark, part of a group, or a feature of the streetscape;
- is in reasonable condition with a worthwhile remaining life expectancy (a dying or dangerous tree is a poor candidate); and
- faces some threat or expediency — a pending planning application, a change of ownership, or a stated intention to fell — that makes protection timely rather than merely nice-to-have.
Many tree officers apply a structured scoring approach to keep the decision defensible on appeal, weighing visibility, size, form, condition and expediency. You don't need to score it yourself — but framing your request around exactly these factors helps the officer say yes quickly.
| Strong case for a TPO | Weak case for a TPO |
|---|---|
| Prominent oak on a street corner, healthy, developer has applied to build | Small self-seeded sycamore behind a fence, seen by no one |
| Mature group defining a village green, one owner threatening to fell | Declining tree with major decay and a short life expectancy |
| Landmark tree visible for streets, sale agreed to a builder | Healthy tree but no threat at all — nothing has changed |
Step 3: Make the request — what to include
Contact the council's tree officer or planning department directly (phone and email if urgent) and set out, as clearly as you can:
- the exact location — full address, plus a sketch or description of where the tree stands on the plot and which boundary it's near;
- the species and rough size, if you can identify them (height, trunk width, canopy spread — even estimates help);
- why it matters — its public visibility, its contribution to the street or area, its apparent health and age;
- the threat — what is happening and how soon (contractors booked, machinery on site, a planning application submitted, a "For Sale — development potential" board);
- photographs — clear images taken from public viewpoints are persuasive and let the officer assess amenity without an immediate site visit.
The more an officer can verify from the desk, the faster they can act. If it is urgent, say so in the subject line and the opening sentence — don't bury the emergency three paragraphs down.
Step 4: Act fast — provisional (interim) TPOs
Timing is everything, and this is the single most important thing to understand. A council can make a provisional TPO (also called an interim or immediate order) that takes legal effect the moment it is made and lasts up to six months while the authority decides whether to confirm it permanently. That provisional protection exists precisely for the tree about to be felled.
So if you believe work is imminent — a felling booked, machinery arriving, a "we're taking it down Saturday" from a neighbour — contact the tree officer the same day, by phone as well as email, and state plainly that the tree is under immediate threat. A provisional order can be drafted, made and served within a working day. A day's delay, by contrast, can be the difference between a protected tree and a stump — and once a tree is felled, a TPO can do nothing.
Worked example: a resident spots a contractor's board on a house sold with "development potential" and a mature beech that dominates the street. She phones the borough's tree officer at 9am, emails three pavement photos, and describes the beech and the imminent sale. The officer visits at lunchtime, judges the amenity value clear, and makes a provisional TPO that afternoon — binding the new owner from the moment it is made.
What happens after the order is made
Once a council makes a TPO it must serve notice on the tree's owner, the occupier and other affected parties. There is then an objection window — at least 28 days — in which people can object or comment before the council decides whether to confirm the order. Provisional protection holds throughout that window, so the tree cannot be lawfully touched while objections are weighed.
If confirmed, the order makes it a criminal offence to cut down, top, lop, uproot or wilfully damage the tree — including cutting its roots — without the council's prior written consent. It stays with the tree, not the person, binding every future owner indefinitely (no expiry unless the council revokes it), and carries penalties of up to £20,000 in the Magistrates' Court (unlimited in the Crown Court) for destroying a protected tree, plus a duty to plant a replacement.
To do lawful work later — even sensible pruning — the owner must apply to the council for consent, a separate application typically decided within 8 weeks. See what is a Tree Preservation Order for how consent and exemptions work once an order is in place.
If the tree is in a conservation area
If the tree stands in a conservation area, it may already carry a layer of protection without a TPO. Anyone intending most works must give the council a section 211 notice six weeks in advance — and that window is itself the council's trigger to consider making a TPO. So if you learn a conservation-area tree is threatened, alerting the tree officer during those six weeks can convert temporary notice-period protection into a permanent order. Read more in the full guide to Tree Preservation Orders.
Requirements — and tree officers — are set locally
There is no national TPO body and no central process. Every step above happens at the level of your individual local planning authority, and the practical experience varies noticeably between councils: how quickly the tree team responds, how they prefer to receive requests (online form, email, phone), how proactively they use provisional orders, and how strictly they apply the amenity test all differ from one authority to the next. A Leeds request and a Lambeth or Bristol request land on different desks, with different local tree strategies and workloads behind them.
That is why it pays to know your own council's route and watch what is happening locally. PlanWatch tracks live tree-related planning activity per authority — applications mentioning trees, works or removals near an address — so you can spot a threat early, while there is still time to ask for a provisional order rather than mourn a stump. Start at the tree-surveys hub and check your area.
Note too that this guide is England-centric. Scotland (under the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997), Wales and Northern Ireland protect trees through parallel but distinct regimes — the amenity principle is similar, but the forms, timescales and terminology differ, so approach the relevant national and local authority.
The bigger picture
Getting a tree protected is only worthwhile if you understand what protection then means — for the owner and for any future development nearby. Read what is a Tree Preservation Order for how consent and exemptions work once an order exists, how to check if a tree has a TPO to confirm status before you act, and the full guide to Tree Preservation Orders for how TPOs interact with planning applications and BS5837 surveys. If a valued tree matters to you, the winning move is simple: know your council, watch for the threat, and act the same day it appears.