What a TPO covers, how to check if your tree has one, and what happens if you cut a protected tree without consent.
A Tree Preservation Order stops a specific tree, group of trees, or area of woodland being cut down, topped, lopped, uprooted or damaged without the council's written consent first. It doesn't ban all work on the tree, and it doesn't mean the tree can never come down. It means someone has to ask, and the council has six weeks to decide.
Most homeowners only find out a tree is protected after they've already booked someone to cut it, which is the expensive way to learn. Checking first costs nothing and takes one phone call or a look at the council's online map.
An order can protect a single tree, several named trees, or a whole area, and the wording of the specific order decides what needs consent. Some orders cover felling only; most cover pruning, lopping, topping and root work as well, since cutting roots can kill a tree just as reliably as cutting the trunk. Read the order itself rather than assuming, because two TPOs on neighbouring streets can carry different conditions.
Ring the planning department of the council covering the property and ask for a TPO search, or check their website if they publish an interactive map. Conservation area status is a separate question from TPO status and needs checking too, since a tree can be unprotected by an order but still sit inside a conservation area. A competent surgeon checks both as part of quoting, but it's worth knowing the answer yourself before you commit to a date, particularly if the work is time-sensitive.
Trees standing in a conservation area get a lighter form of protection even with no TPO on them individually. Instead of needing consent up front, you give the council six weeks' written notice of intended work on a tree above a certain size, and the council can then issue a TPO during that window if they want to protect it. If they don't act within six weeks, the work can go ahead. This catches people out because it feels like there's nothing stopping you, when in practice cutting before the notice period ends is the same offence as ignoring a TPO.
It's a criminal offence, prosecuted through the magistrates' or crown court depending on severity, and fines are calculated with reference to the amenity value lost, not capped at a token amount. On top of any fine, the council can require you to plant a replacement tree of a similar size and species, which for a mature specimen can mean years of aftercare and a tree that never fully replaces what was there. None of this requires proving intent. Not knowing about the order is not a defence.
This is where people get it wrong most often. Chesterfield town centre falls under Chesterfield Borough Council, but towns on our patch that feel like Chesterfield suburbs, Dronfield and Clay Cross among them, are actually administered by North East Derbyshire District Council. Staveley, by contrast, sits inside the Chesterfield Borough boundary, so it follows the same process as the town centre. Applying to the wrong authority doesn't transfer across when someone points out the mistake; it means starting the six-week clock again from zero. See our area pages for Dronfield, Clay Cross and Staveley for which council covers each.
Last reviewed 2026-07-21.
Only with consent, in most cases. TPO wording usually covers pruning and lopping alongside felling, not just removal, so even a modest crown lift or deadwood removal can technically need permission. The exception is genuine dead, dying or dangerous wood, which has a limited exemption, but the council still expects five days' written notice before you act on it.
Yes, a narrow one. Work strictly necessary to remove an immediate risk from a dead branch or a dangerous tree is exempt, but you're expected to notify the council in writing beforehand where practicable, and to keep evidence of why the danger was genuine and urgent. Using the exemption to justify work that wasn't actually urgent doesn't hold up if challenged.
Councils have eight weeks to decide a formal TPO consent application, though straightforward cases are often quicker. The six-week figure people usually hear applies to the conservation-area notice period, which is a different process with a different clock.
It can complicate a sale rather than reduce value outright, mainly because buyers' solicitors ask about it during conveyancing searches and any pending work needs disclosing. It rarely stops a sale, but it's worth having consent sorted, or at least understood, before marketing a property with a protected tree in the garden.
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