The consent is through. For many commercial sites, this is where things stall. An approved tree works application is not a work order. It is a decision notice authorising specific operations on specific trees, sometimes with conditions. It is written for the planning file, not for a contractor pricing the job.

Between them sit the conditions. Read those first, because they set the deadline for the work and the standard it has to meet.

This guide covers the stretch between consent and delivery. It looks at what the decision actually permits, which conditions affect commissioning, how to handle a tree whose condition has changed, and how to brief a contractor so the quote matches the consent you hold.

Reading the decision notice before you ring for a quote

A Tree Preservation Order (TPO) is made by the local planning authority (LPA) to protect individual trees, groups, areas or woodlands. It prohibits cutting down, topping, lopping, uprooting, and wilful damage or destruction without the LPA's written consent unless a statutory exception applies. When the LPA grants consent, it can attach conditions, and those conditions have to be followed.

Consent is specific. It applies to the trees identified in your application and the operations described in it. The authority can grant consent unconditionally, grant it with conditions, refuse, or grant consent for less work than was applied for. It cannot issue a decision that substantively alters the work you applied for. If the works you need now differ from the works described, the consent does not cover them.

Before contacting a contractor, read the decision notice against the application. Three things are worth confirming in writing:

  • Tree identifiers. The consent refers to trees by the identifiers used in the application plan and schedule, such as T1, T2 or G1. Those identifiers need to line up with the trees on the ground now, not with how the site looked when the application was prepared.
  • The authorised operations. Wording matters. A consent for a crown reduction to a stated specification is not consent for felling the same tree, and a consent to remove one stem is not consent to remove the tree.
  • Anything the decision refuses or leaves out. Where the LPA grants part of an application and refuses the rest, the decision notice should make clear what has been authorised and what has not.

If any of that is ambiguous, ask the LPA's tree officer to confirm the position before work starts. It is quicker than resolving it afterwards.

Conditions that change how you commission the job

Conditions are common, and a few of them directly affect how you buy the work. The main types are conditions about replacement planting, conditions requiring further approvals from the LPA, conditions regulating the standard of the authorised work, conditions allowing repeated operations, and conditions that shorten the time limit on the consent.

Time limits. By default, consent is valid for two years beginning with the date it was granted, and the LPA can set a different period by condition. An unused and unexpired consent also runs with the land, so a consent obtained by a previous owner can still be relied on if it has not expired. If the time limit passes, a further application is needed. Put the expiry date in the project programme rather than in a file note. Check contractor availability before the consent expires.

Replacement planting conditions. For replacement planting required as a condition of consent, check the wording of the decision. Separate statutory replacement duties can apply in other circumstances, including certain exempt removals and unlawful work. Where a condition requires planting, it usually sets out the number, size, species and location of the replacements plus the period for planting them. Those details need to reach whoever is pricing the job, because planting and aftercare are separate from the tree removal and should be quoted separately. Replacement trees planted under a condition are not automatically protected by the original order, so ask the LPA whether the order will be varied.

Repeat operations. Unless a condition says otherwise, the consent allows the authorised work to be carried out once. Where a condition allows repeated operations or a programme of work, it should specify the timing or frequency. If your site needs cyclical pruning, that is worth raising at application stage rather than after consent has been granted for a one-off operation.

Standard of work conditions. A condition may regulate how the authorised work is carried out, for example requiring work to be done to a stated British Standard or in line with good arboricultural practice. Whichever way the condition is worded, the standard is part of the contract. Put it in the brief and ask the contractor to confirm they will work to it.

When the tree you are looking at has changed

Reports and applications describe the tree on the day it was inspected. Storms, drought, construction damage and disease all move faster than the consent process. When the tree in front of you no longer matches the description in the approved schedule, stop and take advice rather than widening the job on site.

The exemptions in the TPO regime include certain work on dead trees and branches and on dangerous trees and branches, but exemptions are narrow and the authority can challenge them. Work on diseased or dying trees still needs consent unless another exemption applies. If the LPA considers that an exemption you relied on does not apply, it can seek injunctive relief. The guidance is explicit that owners, agents and contractors should take care not to exceed an exemption, and that anyone intending to rely on one may want advice from a qualified arboriculturist or written confirmation from the authority first.

In practice, that leaves three routes when the tree has changed:

  1. If the work remains within the authorised scope, confirm the changed condition does not affect the method or other legal requirements before proceeding.
  2. If the work falls outside it, go back to the LPA. Ask what further application or approval is required before authorising the changed scope.
  3. Where an immediate risk of serious harm requires urgent work, keep people away and obtain competent help. Only work urgently necessary to remove that risk falls within the relevant exception. Notify the LPA as soon as practicable and preserve evidence. Dead-tree removals normally require at least five working days' written notice unless urgently necessary for that immediate risk. Dying or diseased trees are not automatically exempt. Call 999 where people are in immediate danger.

Owners, agents and contractors must each take care not to exceed an exception. Seek competent arboricultural advice and written LPA guidance where practicable; the burden of establishing an exception cannot simply be delegated away. Keep that correspondence with the consent.

Other permissions and duties to check

A TPO consent deals with the planning constraint only. It does not replace other permissions and duties, and on a commercial site the others are usually live as well.

  • Felling licences. A felling licence is normally required to fell trees in England unless an exception applies, and protected trees require particular care over the interaction of forestry and planning controls. Ask the Forestry Commission and LPA which route applies rather than assuming two separate approvals are always required. Ordinary maintenance such as lopping, pruning, pollarding and topping does not need one. Confirm the licensing position for any felling in the approved schedule, and keep the records that prove any exception you rely on.
  • Wildlife. Bats, nesting birds and other protected species are governed by their own legislation. Even work that is exempt from TPO consent has to avoid contravening wildlife law. If the arboriculturist or ecologist flags a constraint, the timing of the work changes, not just the paperwork.
  • Ownership and access. Consent covers the tree, not the land. Where a tree stands on a neighbour's land or access runs across a third party's property, that permission is separate and needs arranging before the contractor arrives.

Briefing a contractor from an approved schedule

Contractors price what they can measure, and vague enquiries produce defensive quotes with wide exclusions. A commercial tree work brief that gets priced properly normally contains:

  • The decision notice and the approved schedule or plan, with the tree identifiers that will be used on site.
  • Site address and a site plan showing access, parking and where arisings can be processed or loaded.
  • The condition that regulates the standard of the work, quoted in full.
  • Any timing constraint: the consent expiry date, and any seasonal window from wildlife or site operations.
  • Constraints on the ground: overhead services, underground services, protection for surfaces and structures, retained trees that must not be damaged, and working hours if the site is occupied.
  • Arisings route: what happens to timber, brash and chippings, and where they leave the site.
  • Whether stump treatment or grinding is included, and whether replacement planting and aftercare are in scope or quoted separately.
  • What the site can provide and what the contractor is expected to provide: welfare, water, power, traffic management, permits to work.

Ask for the quote split by tree group rather than a single lump sum, so you can compare against the approved schedule and re-price the job if part of the work is deferred. Ask, too, for the exclusions to be listed in the same document, and for the insurance and competence evidence your procurement process needs before the first visit.

Recording completion for the file

When the work is done, someone will eventually ask whether it was carried out as consented. That is much easier to answer with a completion file assembled at the time:

  • Before and after photographs of each tree or group, referenced to the identifiers used in the schedule.
  • A signed completion record listing the operations carried out against each identifier, with anything not done marked as not done.
  • Any authorised variations and their approval records. Do not treat retrospective reporting as permission to exceed the consent.
  • Materials or waste transfer records where arisings left the site.
  • Confirmation of any condition that continues past the work, such as replacement planting or aftercare, with dates in the maintenance calendar.

That file does three jobs. It evidences compliance if the LPA asks, it supports the site's own records if a tree fails later, and it gives the next arboricultural survey a starting point instead of a blank page.

Get the consented work priced from the documents you already hold

If you are managing a site with an approved schedule of tree works, send over the decision notice, the approved plan and the site constraints. We will tell you what can be priced immediately, what needs clarifying with the LPA or the appointed arboriculturist first, and where the sensible split sits between planned work and contingencies. Call 07423 269635 or use the form to arrange a site visit and a written quote.

Need the survey or condition report behind the application, or a survey for a new site issue? Start with tree surveys and reports, and send the site details through the contact form.