Trees in the UK can be legally protected—most commonly by a Tree Preservation Order (TPO) or because they sit within a Conservation Area. If a tree is protected, you must not fell, prune, or otherwise disturb it without consent from the Local Planning Authority (LPA).
LPAs set their own validation rules. Broadly, we see two approaches:
Pre-emptive check required: Some LPAs ask you to check protection status for all trees on or near your site before you submit anything.
Check only if trees are impacted: Others only require protection checks when your proposal affects trees, e.g. felling, pruning, or intersecting a Root Protection Area (RPA) with buildings, services, access, or groundworks.
Every LPA’s checklist is different, which is why we built a quick, standard way to get you to the right place.
How to do it in our tool (two quick steps)
Step 1 – Click “Add TPO”.
In your project, use the Add TPO button. This opens the tree-protection map view.
Step 2 – Open your LPA’s look-up guide.
At the top of the map, click the link to your LPA-specific guide. It explains exactly how to look up TPOs and Conservation Areas for your council (official map, what to search, who to email if the map is unclear, etc.).
Follow the guide, check your trees, then record the results back in the tool.
Why we ask you to do the look-up
Only the LPA’s register is authoritative for TPOs.
TPOs are made under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and each LPA keeps the statutory TPO register. Third-party or aggregated maps (including national datasets) can be out of date or incomplete. The LPA’s own source (map/register or written confirmation) is the legal touchstone.Conservation Areas are legal designations (under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990).
Boundaries can change. The LPA’s published layer and notices are what count.Applicants (or their agents) are responsible for factual accuracy.
Planning forms and validation rely on information supplied by you. Submitting the wrong status can delay validation, mislead neighbours/consultees, and in the worst case, lead to unauthorised works.
Because of all this, the safest and most accurate route is you checking directly against the LPA’s own source, using our one-click guide, and then recording what you found. We’ll structure and present that evidence in your reports, but the legal confirmation must come from the LPA materials you consulted.