Tree protection is set nationally but administered locally, and the practical detail differs by authority. Here’s what applies where we work.

The rules that are the same everywhere

In any conservation area, you must notify the council before working on a tree with a trunk over 75mm diameter measured at 1.5m from the ground. That threshold rises to 100mm where the work is thinning to improve the growth of other trees. Pruning counts, not just felling.

The council then has six weeks to object. If they do, they must place a Tree Preservation Order on the tree to extend protection. Hear nothing in six weeks and you can proceed. No formal approval is issued, silence is the answer.

With a Tree Preservation Order already in place, you need formal consent, and there’s no automatic approval at the end of the waiting period. Most authorities work to eight weeks on TPO applications.

Dead or dangerous trees are exempt from the usual process, but you must still give the council five days’ written notice with photographic evidence and in most cases you’ll be required to plant a replacement, which automatically inherits the original TPO.

Unauthorised work on a protected tree is a criminal offence. Councils are explicit that both the tree owner and their contractor can be prosecuted, so “my tree surgeon said it was fine” is not a defence.

Where it differs

Elmbridge Borough Council 

Hersham, Walton, Esher, Cobham, Weybridge, Thames Ditton, East Molesey, Claygate, Oxshott, Weston Green, Long Ditton. Twenty-six conservation areas covering more than 2,000 properties, including historic town centres, village greens, a philanthropic retirement village, a 1920s motor racing circuit and river navigation channels. Several towns carry four or five each. Cobham alone has five.

Spelthorne Borough Council

Shepperton, Sunbury, Staines, Laleham, the Hallifords. Eight conservation areas, four of them in the Shepperton area. Applications go in on the 1App form, Section 31. TPO decisions typically six to eight weeks. Spelthorne state plainly that they prosecute owners, not just contractors.

Runnymede Borough Council

 Chertsey, Addlestone, Egham, Englefield Green, Virginia Water, Ottershaw. Six weeks’ notice using Form 31. Two local requirements worth knowing: Runnymede want all proposed works expressed in metres rather than percentages, in line with BS3998, and they want a clear justification for the work rather than just a description. Get either wrong and it comes straight back.

Mole Valley District Council

 Leatherhead, Dorking, Bookham, Fetcham, Ashtead, Westcott. Around 1,000 Tree Preservation Orders across the district, plus extensive woodland and veteran trees. Six weeks for conservation area notice. Planning conditions here can require trees to be retained for up to five years after a development completes.

Epsom & Ewell Borough Council 

Epsom, Ewell, Stoneleigh, Worcester Park. Around 140,000 trees in the borough and tree cover about double the national average, with nearly 400 individually protected by TPOs. Five working days’ notice for dead or dangerous trees.

London Borough of Richmond upon Thames 

Richmond, Twickenham, Teddington, Kew, Ham, Hampton. Eighty-five conservation areas, more than any other London borough, covering a very large share of the housing stock. Conservation area work goes in as a Section 211 notice. TPO applications cover felling, pruning and root pruning, which catches people out on extensions and driveways.

Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames 

Kingston, Surbiton, New Malden, Norbiton, Coombe, Tolworth, Chessington. Extensive conservation area coverage across the older parts of the borough.

London Borough of Merton 

Wimbledon, Raynes Park, Merton Park. Six weeks for conservation area trees, eight weeks for TPO applications. Very high TPO density in Wimbledon, Arthur Road alone carries at least four separate orders.

Wandsworth Borough Council 

Putney, Balham, Tooting, Battersea, Southfields, Earlsfield. Six weeks for conservation area notification, eight weeks for TPO applications, submitted to the planning team. Two things to know here: you have 28 days to object to a new TPO, and Wandsworth’s tree policy states that where a protected tree is removed illegally they will require a replacement of the same botanical family, planted as close as possible to the original position and will serve a tree replacement notice through enforcement if you don’t.

The one that catches everyone out

Street trees in Surrey belong to Surrey County Council, not your borough or district. If the tree is in the pavement or verge outside your house, Elmbridge, Spelthorne, Runnymede, Mole Valley and Epsom & Ewell can’t help you and you’ll waste a fortnight finding that out. In the London boroughs it’s the borough council.

Local government reorganisation

Worth knowing if you’re planning ahead. Surrey County Council and the eleven district and borough councils are being replaced by two new unitary authorities from April 2027, and the transition has already started, you’ll see “Future Surrey” on most council websites now.

Tree protection itself doesn’t change. TPOs, conservation areas and the statutory timescales are national law and carry straight over. What changes is who administers them, which forms are used, and which office your application lands on. The London boroughs are unaffected.

Expect some friction while it beds in. Transitions like this usually mean slower validation, staff moving between authorities and applications sitting longer than they should. If you’ve got protected tree work you know is coming, getting it in sooner rather than later is sensible.

We’ll keep on top of which authority is doing what. You don’t need to.

What we do about it

We check protected status as part of every quote, work out which authority you’re actually in, and write and submit the application if one is needed, with the arboricultural justification the tree officer wants to see, on the right form, in the right units.

If you’re working to a deadline, start early. There’s no way to shortcut the statutory periods, and it’s the single most common reason jobs get delayed.