The Town and Country Planning (Trees) Regulations 1999

Trees in conservation areas—exemptions

10.—(1) Section 211 (preservation of trees in conservation areas) shall not apply to—

(a) the cutting down, uprooting, topping or lopping of a tree in the circumstances mentioned in section 198(6) or in article 5 of the prescribed form of tree preservation order set out in the Schedule to these Regulations;

(b) the cutting down of a tree in accordance with a felling licence granted by the Forestry Commissioners under Part II (Commissioners' power to control felling of trees) of the Forestry Act 1967(1);

(c) the cutting down of a tree in accordance with a plan of operations or other working plan approved by the Forestry Commissioners, and for the time being in force, under a forestry dedication covenant entered into under section 5 (forestry dedication covenants and agreements) of the Forestry Act 1967 or under the conditions of a grant or loan made under section 1 (finance for forestry) of the Forestry Act 1979(2);

(d) the cutting down, uprooting, topping or lopping of a tree by, or on behalf of, a local planning authority;

(e) the cutting down or uprooting—

(i) of a tree whose diameter does not exceed 75 millimetres; or

(ii) where carried out for the sole purpose of improving the growth of other trees, of a tree whose diameter does not exceed 100 millimetres; or

(f) the topping or lopping of a tree whose diameter does not exceed 75 millimetres.

(2) For the purpose of this regulation—

(a) where a tree has more than one stem at a point 1.5 metres above the natural ground level its diameter shall be treated for the purposes of paragraph (1)(e)(i) and (f) or paragraph (1)(e)(ii) as exceeding 75 millimetres or 100 millimetres respectively, if any stem when measured over its bark at that point exceeds 75 millimetres or 100 millimetres respectively;

(b) in any other case, the diameter of a tree shall be ascertained by measurement, over the bark of the tree, at a point 1.5 metres above the natural ground level.

(1)

1967 c. 10.

(2)

1979 c. 21.

(3)

Under section 199(1), tree preservation orders generally do not take effect until confirmed, but a direction may be given under section 201 for an order to take provisional effect immediately.

(4)

Where the Order is to be made under the sections cited and section 300 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, all those provisions should be cited, as should the fact of the consent of the appropriate authority. As to the circumstances in which the consent of the Forestry Commission is required (and should be cited) see section 200(1) of that Act.

(5)

Subsection (6) of section 198 exempts from the application of tree preservation orders the cutting down, uprooting, topping or lopping of trees which are dying, dead or have become dangerous, or the undertaking of those acts in compliance with obligations imposed by or under an Act of Parliament or so far as may be necessary for the prevention or abatement of a nuisance. Subsection (7) of that section makes section 198 subject to section 39(2) of the Housing and Planning Act 1986 (c. 63) (saving for effect of section 2(4) of the Opencast Coal Act 1958 on land affected by a tree preservation order despite its repeal) and section 15 of the Forestry Act 1967 (c. 10) (licences under that Act to fell trees comprised in a tree preservation order).

(6)

See section 263 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.

(7)

S.I. 1995/418.

(8)

1991 c. 59, see section 72.

(9)

1989 c. 29.

(10)

1986 c. 31.

(11)

1984 c. 12.

(12)

Section 79 was amended by the Planning and Compensation Act 1991 (c. 34), section 18 and Schedule 7, paragraph 19.