Tree Preservation
Order (TPO)

A TPO can cover a single tree, a group of trees, or a whole woodland area — and it typically extends to the roots by implication, since damaging the root system can kill a protected tree just as surely as felling it. Authorities make TPOs where a tree has significant amenity value to the local area and where its removal would have a meaningful impact, which is a judgment call rather than a fixed species or size threshold — a TPO isn't reserved for ancient or rare trees specifically.

Trees in a conservation area have a related but separate protection: instead of needing consent before work, the owner must give the local authority six weeks' notice, which gives the authority a window to make a new TPO if the tree is significant enough to warrant one.

Carrying out work on a TPO tree without consent (or in contravention of the authority's conditions) is a criminal offence, prosecuted in a magistrates' court with fines that can run into the tens of thousands of pounds per tree, and unlimited in the Crown Court for the most serious cases. Beyond the fine, an authority can require replacement planting — cutting down a protected tree doesn't end the obligation, it usually creates a new one.

Contact the relevant local planning authority directly, or check its published TPO register or interactive map if it has one — coverage varies a lot by council, so a missing entry on an online map isn't proof a tree is unprotected. For anything going into a planning application, confirm TPO and conservation area status in writing from the authority rather than relying on a map layer alone; this is standard due diligence on a BS5837 survey, not an optional extra.

TPO status is usually noted alongside a tree's BS5837 category in a survey record — see the BS5837 tree survey guide for how the two interact, or record it directly in LogLog's notes and heritage fields against the tree pin.