Preview build People, jobs, listings and posts are samples. Guides, events and the directory are real.
ArboNation Join free

Tree rules in Bromley: preservation orders and conservation areas

What the London Borough of Bromley's own pages say about its 2000 tree preservation orders, the exemptions it lists, the expert evidence it asks for with an application, the 28 day felling notices and what it does for private owners.

Checked against the sources at the bottom of this page on October 8, 2026. Rules, fees and pay change: the source has the last word.

This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. It describes seven Bromley Council tree pages as read on October 8, 2026: tree protection, how a tree gets protected, permission to work on a protected tree, trees on private land, council maintained trees, the tree management strategy 2023 to 2027 and street tree felling notices. The national rules, including the time limits in the England regulations, are on the guide to checking tree rules with UK councils. This page covers only what Bromley's pages add.

Orders and how a tree gets one

Bromley's tree protection page says there are over 2000 TPOs in the borough, that an order can protect any type of tree including hedgerow trees but not hedges, bushes or shrubs, and that the council keeps records of protected trees. It links an interactive protected trees map, with an enquiry form as the fallback on mobile phones. The page on getting a tree protected says priority generally goes to trees under threat, for example where development is proposed. It says the council must show a reasonable degree of public benefit, so the tree should normally be visible from a public place, and it lists reasons such as intrinsic value, landscape contribution, screening, scarcity and the value of a group. Wildlife habitat can be weighed but alone would not justify an order. Once an order is made, the owner and other interested parties are written to and have 28 days to comment, and the page says the owner stays responsible for maintenance.

Permission, exemptions and evidence

The permission page says permission is always needed except in listed cases. A dead tree needs written notification at least 5 working days before work. Dead branches on a living tree, pruning a fruit tree under good horticultural practice and minimum clearance over a public highway are also listed, with the clearance given as 2.4 metres over footpaths and 5.2 metres over roads. Urgent work to remove an immediate risk of serious harm needs written notification after the works become necessary. The page adds that a tree that could reasonably be cordoned off is unlikely to meet the urgent exception. It says the council can investigate whether work met an exception and can prosecute those who carried out, instructed or permitted it, with fines of up to £20,000 per offence in a Magistrates Court and unlimited fines in Crown Court, and that removal without consent brings a replacement requirement the council can enforce.

An application takes a sketch plan, photographs of each tree, clear identification and a full specification of the works to the current industry standard. For TPO trees the page asks for reasons with evidence: written expert evidence for tree condition, and for subsidence damage a report by an engineer or surveyor and one from an arboriculturist. A refusal or objectionable condition can be appealed to the Secretary of State in writing within 28 days.

Private land and council trees

The private land page says that without a conservation area or TPO, a property owner is legally entitled to prune overhanging branches back to the boundary, including from council maintained trees, with cuts to a professional standard and the debris disposed of properly, by a registered waste carrier where another person is engaged. The council maintained trees page says Bromley does not do tree work for private residents. The strategy foreword says the borough has the largest number of street and park trees in London and 552 hectares of council managed woodland and conservation sites. The felling page says the council consults on removing any street tree under Section 115 of the Environment Act 2021 and Section 96A of the Highways Act 1980 unless an exemption applies, with a notice on the tree and online for a minimum of 28 days, and the decision published afterwards.

Sources