A large number of trees are protected in the UK. The Council helps to protect trees and woodland by making use of Tree Preservation Orders (TPO). These are orders made under the Town and County Planning Act 1990.
A Tree Preservation Order(TPO) is an order made by a local planning authority in England to protect specific trees, groups of trees or woodlands in the interests of amenity. Trees need not be exceptional or unusual specimens to merit inclusion in a Tree Preservation Order(TPO). An Order prohibits the cutting down, topping, lopping, uprooting, willful damage or willful destruction of trees without the local planning, authority’s written consent. If consent is given, it can be subject to conditions which have to be followed. In the Secretary of State’s view, cutting roots is also a prohibited activity and requires the authority’s consent. The aims of Tree Preservation Orders(TPO) are to prevent unnecessary felling and pruning and to ensure that where felling is permitted, replacement trees are planted.
Owners of protected trees must not carry out, or cause or permit the carrying out of, any of the prohibited activities without the written consent of the local authority. As with owners of unprotected trees, they are responsible for maintaining their trees, with no statutory rules setting out how often or to what standard. The Local Authority can encourage good tree management, particularly when determining applications for consent under a TPO.
The orders can be viewed at Planning and Regeneration Services. If you would like us to assist with these checks and your application for tree works or would like to find out more about a particular tree or conservation area then please contact our team at West Yorkshire Tree Services who will be happy to help.
