In most cases you do not need a BS5837 tree survey simply to fell or remove a tree — that survey is a development document. What you must do instead is run three separate checks: is the tree protected by a Tree Preservation Order, is it in a conservation area, and does a felling licence apply? Any one of these can make felling without consent a criminal offence.
People often reach for a "tree survey" when they want to remove a tree, but the survey question and the removal question are different. A tree survey for planning helps you build near trees; removal is about permission to fell. This guide walks the three checks that actually matter in England, and flags where a survey does become relevant. Note that Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have parallel-but-distinct regimes, so verify locally if you are outside England.
Check 1: Is there a Tree Preservation Order?
A Tree Preservation Order (TPO), made under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, protects specific trees "in the interests of amenity." It prohibits cutting down, topping, lopping, uprooting and wilful damage — including root cutting — without the local planning authority's written consent. A TPO can cover a single tree, a group, an area, or a whole woodland, and it protects trees for their contribution to the surroundings, not for being rare or old — so an ordinary-looking tree can still carry one.
If your tree has a TPO, you cannot lawfully fell it until you apply for consent on the standard form and the council grants it. The authority has 8 weeks from valid receipt to decide, and a consent, once granted, is generally valid for 2 years. A refusal or non-determination can be appealed to the Planning Inspectorate under Regulation 19. Removing a TPO tree without consent is a criminal offence carrying a fine of up to £20,000 in the Magistrates' Court (unlimited in the Crown Court), plus a likely duty to plant a replacement. Always start with a Tree Preservation Order check — see our full TPO guide for how consent works.
Check 2: Is the tree in a conservation area?
Even without a TPO, a tree in a conservation area is protected. Before doing certain works you must give the council a section 211 notice six weeks before you carry them out. That window lets the authority decide whether to make a TPO to keep the tree.
A section 211 notice is not an application for consent — it cannot be refused or granted with conditions. Either the council makes a TPO within the six weeks, or the period lapses and you may proceed within 2 years of the notice. The regime applies to trees above a small size threshold (commonly cited as around 75 mm diameter measured at 1.5 m, with a larger threshold where you are thinning to help other trees grow — confirm the current figure with your council). Felling a conservation-area tree without giving notice carries the same criminal penalties as breaching a TPO.
Check 3: Does a felling licence apply?
Felling trees outside gardens, above certain volume thresholds, can require a felling licence from the Forestry Commission under the Forestry Act 1967 — a regime entirely separate from planning and from TPOs. For most domestic garden trees this does not bite (gardens are generally exempt), so it mainly affects woodland and larger rural felling. Where it does apply, TPO and conservation-area rules take priority and must be dealt with first. If you are clearing anything more than a garden tree or two, treat the felling licence question as a real one rather than an afterthought.
The three checks at a glance
| Check | Where it bites | What you must do | If you get it wrong |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tree Preservation Order | Any TPO tree, anywhere | Apply for written LPA consent (8-week decision) | Criminal offence — up to £20,000 fine |
| Conservation area | Trees in a designated conservation area, no TPO | Give a section 211 notice 6 weeks ahead | Same criminal penalties as a TPO breach |
| Felling licence | Trees outside gardens, over volume thresholds | Apply to the Forestry Commission | Enforcement and restocking notice |
Run all three before a saw touches the tree — they stack, so a woodland tree can engage more than one at once.
The exemptions — narrower than people think
TPO and section 211 rules both exempt a limited set of works, and homeowners routinely overreach here:
- Dead trees — exempt, but you must give the council five working days' prior notice before felling.
- Urgent works to remove an immediate danger — exempt to the extent necessary to abate the danger.
- Abating a nuisance, complying with an Act of Parliament, or works needed to implement a full planning permission — each a specific exemption, not a blanket one.
The big trap: the 2012 Regulations replaced the old "dead, dying or dangerous" test with "dead" plus "urgent works to remove danger." A "dying" or merely inconvenient tree is no longer covered. Cutting on the strength of the outdated wording is one of the most common — and most expensive — mistakes. If you are relying on the danger exemption, photograph the defect first and keep evidence: the burden is on you to show the works were genuinely urgent and no more than necessary.
Worked example: a leaning tree after a storm
A conservation-area sycamore develops a fresh lean and a cracked union after a gale. Can you fell it that afternoon? Only to the extent needed to make it safe. The right move is to have the immediate danger dealt with under the urgent-works exemption — cutting back the failed limb or making the tree safe — record why it was urgent, then submit a section 211 notice (or TPO consent application, if it is also under a TPO) for any fuller removal. Felling the whole tree outright and citing "it was dangerous" when a partial reduction would have removed the danger is exactly the kind of overreach that ends in prosecution.
Where a survey does come in
You would commission arboricultural work to remove a tree in two situations. First, if the tree is protected and healthy, a short arboricultural report or tree risk assessment can support your consent application or evidence a genuine danger. Second, if the removal is part of a development — clearing a tree to build — then you are back in BS5837 territory and need a proper tree survey for planning, because the loss of that tree must be assessed in an arboricultural impact assessment submitted with the application.
Protection status is set locally — check your own council
None of these three checks has a single national answer you can look up once. Which trees carry a TPO and where conservation area boundaries fall are decided by your local planning authority, and both differ street by street — a tree on one side of a road may be protected while its neighbour is not. Councils also vary in how they publish TPO registers and conservation area maps, how strictly they interpret the exemptions, and how quickly their tree officer responds. The only reliable answer is your own authority's.
PlanWatch tracks live tree-related planning activity per council, so you can see how active tree protection and applications are in your area — start at the tree surveys hub and check example authorities such as Manchester, Lambeth or Bristol. And because this guidance is England-centric, remember that Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland run parallel but distinct systems — verify with the relevant national body if you are outside England.
The bottom line
To simply fell a tree: run the three checks first — TPO, conservation area, felling licence. Planning permission alone does not license removing a protected tree, and the penalties are criminal. When in doubt, a quick TPO check and a call to your council's tree officer costs nothing and can save you a £20,000 fine.