Tree Preservation Orders in Ramsgate and Thanet: four questions that determine whether you need consent
Cutting down, lopping or pruning a tree with a Tree Preservation Order (TPO) without written consent from Thanet District Council can bring a fine of up to £20,000 in the magistrates' court, or an unlimited fine in the Crown Court. Four questions decide whether the tree is protected, which consent route applies, and what to send Thanet DC before any work starts.
Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, Section 1
It is an offence to intentionally or recklessly damage or destroy a wild bird's nest while it is in use or being built. The accepted guidance window for nesting is 1 March to 31 August (RSPB, GOV.UK), although the Act itself sets no calendar dates. TPO consent does not override the Act. Even with consent in hand, a careful visual check of the whole tree before work is how you avoid committing the offence. An active nest means stopping that section until the young have fledged. On summary conviction the penalty is up to six months in prison, an unlimited fine, or both, with the fine assessed for each nest.
Question 1: is there a TPO on this tree?
A Tree Preservation Order is a legal instrument made under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and the Town and Country Planning (Tree Preservation) (England) Regulations 2012. Thanet District Council can apply a TPO to any tree, group of trees or woodland in the district that it considers brings amenity value to the area. There is no minimum size threshold for a TPO: a council can protect a young tree of any species or dimension if it judges the tree worth protecting.
There are three ways to check whether a specific tree in Ramsgate or Thanet has a TPO:
- Thanet DC's protected trees page at thanet.gov.uk: it explains how to find out whether a tree is protected and what to do before any work. Maps are provided for guidance and should not be used as formal legal confirmation.
- The council's conservation area map at thanet.gov.uk: shows whether your address is inside a conservation area, which brings the Section 211 notice rules into play even where there is no TPO.
- Contact Thanet DC's planning department directly: this is the only method that gives formal legal confirmation before planned work. Phone or email the planning team and quote the address and a description of the tree. Written confirmation of TPO status (or its absence) is the only safe basis for a decision with legal consequences.
If there is no TPO on the tree, move to Question 2: the tree may still be protected under a different rule if it sits inside a conservation area.
If there is a TPO, move directly to Question 3 to establish what work is planned and which consent route follows.
Question 2: is the tree in a conservation area?
Thanet has 27 conservation areas, and the Ramsgate-side ones are separate designations (Ramsgate, Ramsgate Royal Esplanade, Ramsgate Montefiore and Pegwell). If a tree sits within a conservation area and its stem is more than 75 mm in diameter at 1.5 m from the ground, Section 211 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 applies. This is a different legal protection from a TPO, with a different process.
Under Section 211, you must give Thanet DC six weeks' written notice before cutting down, topping, lopping or uprooting the tree. You do not need consent in advance: the six-week notice period gives the council time to assess the tree and, if it considers it worth protecting, to make a TPO before the six weeks expire. If six weeks pass with no TPO, you may proceed (within two years of the notice). For full detail on the Section 211 route, including what triggers the notice and the up to £20,000 in the magistrates' court penalty, see the Section 211 notice guide.
A tree can hold both protections simultaneously: a TPO can exist on a tree that also sits inside the Conservation Area. In that case, the TPO consent process takes precedence. You need written consent, not merely a notice period. See Question 3 for the consent route.
If the tree has neither a TPO nor falls within a conservation area at more than 75 mm, there is no planning protection on it and no consent or notice is required before work begins (though the nesting-season check in the callout above still applies).
Question 3: what exactly is the planned work?
Not all work on a TPO tree requires a formal consent application. The GOV.UK guidance on tree preservation orders sets out limited exceptions:
- Dead branches on a living tree: removing branches that are genuinely dead does not require notice or consent. The branch must be demonstrably dead, not merely in poor condition or part of a declining limb. If you are uncertain, treat it as living wood and apply for consent before removing it.
- A dead tree: consent is not required, but you must give the council five working days' written notice before the work, unless there is an immediate risk of serious harm. A replacement tree is required if a dead tree is removed.
- Immediate risk of serious harm: where a tree presents an immediate risk of serious harm and work is urgently needed, do only what is necessary to remove the risk and give the council written notice as soon as practicable afterwards. If the danger is not immediate, the exception does not apply. A replacement tree is required if the tree is removed. Keeping photographs and written notes of the circumstances is prudent.
- Other exceptions: work needed to comply with an Act of Parliament, the minimum work needed to prevent or abate a nuisance in the legal sense (actual or imminent damage), and work needed to implement a full planning permission. These are narrow, so check with the council before relying on one.
If the planned work does not fall within an exemption, move to Question 4 and then apply for consent through the route described below.
Question 4: is the tree dead, dying or dangerous?
A TPO is intended to protect trees that contribute amenity value. If the tree is dying or presents a structural danger, Thanet DC may grant consent to remove or significantly reduce it. The council will usually want evidence of the tree's condition, and for a significant protected tree a brief email with a photograph may not be enough, so ask the council what it needs.
The key distinction: for a tree that is dying or dangerous but not dead, you should still apply for consent and wait for a decision before starting work, unless the situation meets the immediate risk of serious harm exception in Question 3. That exception is read narrowly: the danger must be present and serious, not just a worry about the tree in future. Evidence for an application is small cost and effort compared with a prosecution.
How to apply for TPO consent from Thanet DC
Check the Thanet DC works to protected trees page for how to submit an application. There is no fee: TPO consent applications are free to submit. A complete application typically includes:
- The address and a clear description of the tree (species, location on the plot, approximate height and trunk diameter at 1.5 m).
- A description of the proposed works: what is to be removed or reduced, to what dimensions, and why.
- Evidence supporting the application: for removal or significant reduction, evidence of the tree's condition is expected. For routine pruning within the crown, photographs and a written description of the current state and target dimensions will usually suffice.
- A site plan or sketch showing which tree is the subject, where it sits in relation to boundaries and buildings, and where access will be taken.
Thanet DC has eight weeks from receipt of a valid application to issue a decision. The council may grant consent unconditionally, grant it with conditions (such as a replacement planting obligation or a specific works specification), or refuse. If the application is refused, you may appeal to the Planning Inspectorate. If no decision arrives within eight weeks you may also appeal on grounds of non-determination.
Consent, once granted, is by default valid for two years from the date of the grant, unless the council sets a different time limit. If works do not proceed within that period, a fresh application is needed.
The replacement planting duty
If a tree is removed because it is dead or dangerous, the landowner has a duty to plant a replacement tree of an appropriate size and species. In a conservation area the same duty applies if a tree is removed in contravention of Section 211, it falls on the landowner at the same place, and it passes to later owners. Where consent is granted for felling, the council can make replacement planting a condition. The council can enforce the duty with a tree replacement notice.
In practice, the species, size and position of a replacement are best agreed as part of the original consent application or discussed with the planning department before works begin, not assumed after the fact.
TPO on a hedge stem: the 75mm distinction
Hedges and shrubs are normally not protected by TPOs because they are managed as multi-stemmed shrubs rather than trees. However, a hedge plant that has been left unmanaged and has developed a dominant stem can cross into tree territory, and GOV.UK guidance notes that a TPO can cover trees in a hedge or an old hedge that has become a line of trees. In a conservation area, the Section 211 notice obligation separately applies to any tree stem more than 75 mm in diameter at 1.5 m.
For a hedge in or near a conservation area, this is worth checking before any renovation cut that would take a large old stem back to the base. A stem that carries a TPO cannot be taken out as part of a routine hedge renovation without consent. See the Conservation Area hedge rules guide for the s.211 trigger in detail.
Check protection status before you book anyone
The practical starting point for any tree work is confirming protection status before a contractor is booked, and getting the answer in writing from the council if there is any doubt.
For the neighbour law dimension, where a high hedge on an adjacent property is causing a problem rather than a TPO issue on your own land, the high-hedges Thanet guide covers Part 8 of the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 and Thanet DC's £650 fee for that route.
Not sure if your tree is protected?
Send a photograph and your postcode to hello@ramsgatehedges.co.uk or call 07763 100 477. I work across Ramsgate, Broadstairs, Margate and the Thanet villages and can point you to the right route before any work is quoted.
Sources: GOV.UK, Tree preservation orders and trees in conservation areas (gov.uk/guidance/tree-preservation-orders-and-trees-in-conservation-areas); Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (legislation.gov.uk); Thanet District Council, Works to protected trees and Conservation areas pages (thanet.gov.uk); Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 s.1 (legislation.gov.uk); RSPB nesting season guidance.
Related: got a council notice? What to do if you receive a section 154 notice.