Britain’s planning system treats mature trees as irreplaceable public assets, protected through a network of Tree Preservation Orders (TPOs), conservation‑area controls and Forestry Commission felling licences. Under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 a local authority can place a TPO on any tree judged to have “amenity value”. Once an order is in force, pruning, lopping or removal is a criminal offence unless the owner first secures written consent from the council. Similar rules apply automatically to every tree in a conservation area: anyone wishing to work on such trees must give the authority six weeks’ notice or face prosecution. The same guidance makes clear that ignorance of a TPO’s existence is no defence
Penalties are deliberately severe. A conviction in the magistrates’ court for wilful destruction of a protected tree can attract a fine of up to £20,000 per tree, and for lesser breaches up to £2,500. If the case is so serious that it is sent to the Crown Court, the judge may impose an unlimited fine and order the offender to pay to replace the tree with a specimen of similar size and species.
Beyond the planning regime, felling licences issued under the Forestry Act 1967 now carry stiffer criminal sanctions. Since January 2023 illegal felling anywhere in England—irrespective of TPO status—can be punished by uncapped fines and a custodial sentence, reflecting growing ministerial concern over deliberate clear‑cuts and “environmental vandalism”.
These powers are no paper tiger. In July 2025 two men who felled the celebrated Sycamore Gap tree beside Hadrian’s Wall were each jailed for four years and three months after a Crown Court judge described their act as “deliberate and mindless”. The case is the clearest warning yet that courts will send offenders to prison where the harm and public outrage are great enough.
Britain prizes its treescapes, and the law now has real teeth to defend them. Removing or even damaging a protected tree without permission risks not only swingeing fines but also a criminal record, court costs, compulsory replanting—and, as the Sycamore Gap vandals discovered, a spell behind bars.