Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Property/DIY

Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Original poster

Tree preservation order

53 replies

ILoveMeSteakIDo · 17/06/2022 07:13

Can anyone get a TPO on a tree if they don't own it?

There's a very large, beautiful tree in my neighbours garden, 2 doors down. I think it's a conifer tree, it's about as tall as a 2 story house. Our gardens are all about 80ft long, to put into context. My next door neighbour hates it as it casts too much shade, in his opinion. He still gets plenty of sun in his long garden, just not across the middle.

It has tons of birds in it and we see a lot of bats around it in the summer (urban garden so the bats were a lovely surprise when we moved in).

Every now and again he makes noises on social media about asking the neighbours to cut it down and moaning about the sunlight issue. On one such rant, someone linked him to some nails that you hammer into the trunk to kill it. I wouldn't put it past him.

I'm idly wondering if i could in theory get a TPO put on the tree due to the fact it seems to support a lot of wildlife, including bats. I know it wouldn't stop him doing something to the tree but he would be in for a fine if he did.

Does anyone know the process for doing so? Can it be done by someone who doesn't own the tree?

OP posts:
Seeline · 13/03/2023 09:47

Just being visible doesn't make a tree worthy of a TPO. They need to be good specimens and healthy.
Also TPOs are unlikely to be placed on trees that are going to need frequent work carried out etc.
The tree officer visited the trees and inspected them. I have known many tree officers over the years. If the trees were worthy and suitable for protection, the tree officer would have gone down the TPO route.

GasPanic · 13/03/2023 10:30

SuePine73 · 11/03/2023 09:00

I agree that sycamores aren't worth preserving! It's a mystery why it got a TPO in the first place especially when you consider that I was told I can't get a TPO for this group of old poplars. Sycamores like limes can produce honeydew which coats everything below with a sticky surface.

I shall look at my old emails to see who it was that I was dealing with. I think it was somebody from the council. I think what he said was that the landlord has no plans to cut them down so there's not point in a TPO.

They did cut down another big poplar nearby, it wasn't where the new building was to be or even in the garden area of the new building. It took them 3 days to do it and we complained but they wouldn't stop. They never gave us a reason why they did it even though we asked.

When you consider that and the fact that they lied about the roadway I think I should try again to get a TPO for the poplars. How should I go about it?

"I think what he said was that the landlord has no plans to cut them down so there's not point in a TPO."

That's a pretty stupid argument against a TPO, because circumstances change.

People may decide one day they don't intend to cut a tree down, but completely change their minds another when the tree presents some sort of issue, or even sell the land to someone else who may have completely different ideas on tree preservation.

A tree should be considered on it's merits alone - not on what someone says they are or are not going to do it at one moment in time.

SuePine73 · 14/03/2023 11:09

GasPanic · 13/03/2023 10:30

"I think what he said was that the landlord has no plans to cut them down so there's not point in a TPO."

That's a pretty stupid argument against a TPO, because circumstances change.

People may decide one day they don't intend to cut a tree down, but completely change their minds another when the tree presents some sort of issue, or even sell the land to someone else who may have completely different ideas on tree preservation.

A tree should be considered on it's merits alone - not on what someone says they are or are not going to do it at one moment in time.

Show quote history

Quite right. And when you think that my landlord is secretive and dishonest anyway it's even more important to get a TPO.

Maybe the tree officer would like to know that he was lied to by the contractors and the landlord. I could send him my photos of HGVs and a cement mixer going along the supposedly pedestrian-only roadway they put in. Right past the supposedly protected sycamore. He might not even know that it is dead now.

I shall find a good photo of these trees taken from my window to show what attractive and healthy specimens they are. I'll put it on here. They could do with pollarding but I am afraid to mention this to the landlord because they might decide to just get rid of them. I could show you a photo I took of a Poplar Hawk Moth too which got trapped in a corridor here where I live.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page