Trees - how do you know if you need Plannign Permission to lop them ?

[LIZS]

We have inherited 2 fairly tall trees which haven't been trimmed in a while. They are fairly spindly and now probably isn't the time of year to do anything to them but what are the criteria to be able to just have them trimmed and when do you need formal permission ? tia

fruit trees are exempt altogether from orders as far as i know

other trees are prtoected for felling but not pruning

and some have tree preservation orders on them

check your local council website

Call your council and speak to someone - if there is any doubt they should send someone out to assess the trees in question.

also check if there are any planning consents associated with the trees

my mum bought a house that was 12 years old (2 years ago) with some trees in the garden

she asked the council what to do about removing them and they said check for a TPO... there was no TPO so they went ahead eith cutting down the trees.

they then got a letter... what they had done was illegal cause there were planning consents (i think thats what its called) associted with the trees.

It was all very stressful for them... my step dad said he had checked there was nothing associated, meanwhile they had letters suggesting they could go to jail if they didnt replace the trees

eventually they compromised and replaneted 2 more much smaller (and younger trees) in slightly different and more convieniant places.

what i mean is a tree preservation order is not the ONLY thing to check for.