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Tree rules in Lewisham: preservation orders and conservation areas

What the London Borough of Lewisham's own pages say about checking a tree against its maps and planning search, the 8 and 6 week decision periods, what an application must include and how it handles 5 day notices for dead and dangerous trees.

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 five Lewisham Council tree pages as read on October 8, 2026: the trees overview, doing work to trees on private property, how to check if a tree is protected, applying for permission to work on a protected tree and how to get new trees planted. 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 Lewisham's pages add.

Sizes and decision periods

Lewisham's private property page says it is a criminal offence to work on a tree in a conservation area or under a tree preservation order (TPO) without permission. For a TPO tree it gives a decision aim of eight weeks from the validation date. For conservation areas it gives a decision aim of six weeks from validation, with notice at least six weeks in advance for a standalone tree with a stem diameter above 7.5 centimetres at 1.5 metres, or a tree in a group with a stem diameter above 10 centimetres. During the six weeks the page says the council can make a TPO, issue a letter of no objection, or let the notice period lapse, after which only the work in the notice may go ahead. For a felled tree it urges a replacement to keep canopy cover.

Checking whether a tree is protected

This is the part particular to this borough. The check page says the council does not respond to requests to check whether a tree is in a conservation area, because the information is online, and that the check is the homeowner's or agent's. It describes three routes: a borough-wide conservation area map with a detailed map for each area, an interactive map with a conservation area layer, and a policy map with a red outline. When two areas sit next to each other and a property is near the boundary, it says both detailed maps are checked.

For TPOs the page says the council was working on a simple list of all orders in the borough, and that the planning application search is the route it gives: an address search, or an advanced search with the application type set to a confirmed tree preservation order. It warns that TPOs covering former hospital sites, the former Page Heath Estate in Blackheath and extensive orders covering many addresses are not uploaded, so those sites go to the planning team by email. It says a TPO check by email can take up to ten working days to answer.

What an application must include

The apply page lists three kinds of application: works to TPO trees, six week notices for conservation area trees and 5 day notices for TPO and conservation area trees in an urgently dangerous condition. It says an application that lacks the required information gets an invalid letter, and the requirements are a location sketch plan with trees labelled T1, T2 and so on, a description of the work with existing and finished heights in metres, photographs of the trees labelled the same way, reasons with supporting reports for TPO applications, and replacement planting for TPO applications, 5 day notices and dead conservation area trees. The page gives model descriptions of the work, for example a lateral reduction of 2 m with a crown thin of 30 percent, which it calls the maximum thin specification.

For a 5 day notice there is no form. The page says an email carries written details of the urgent work needed to remove an immediate risk of serious harm, photographs of the dangerous condition, a map, the approximate height of the tree and the replacement trees required. The planting page adds that the borough's Street Trees for Living scheme plants between October and the end of March, with the resident watering the tree for two years.

Sources