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Tree rules in Merton: preservation orders and conservation areas

What the London Borough of Merton's own pages say about its 600 tree preservation orders, the 6 and 8 week decision periods, the site notice, overhanging trees, the high-risk tree list and its response times.

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 Merton Council pages as read on October 8, 2026: tree preservation orders, applying to work on a protected tree, overhanging trees, reporting a tree problem, high-risk trees, tree pollarding and tree planting. 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 Merton's pages add.

Preservation orders and tree work consent

Merton's TPO page says there are over 600 tree preservation orders across the borough, covering trees in private gardens, trees on land affected by a planning application, trees on open land, and single trees, groups and woodland. It links a list of TPOs it labels as updated in September 2026. A request for a new order is made by writing with the property address, the species, the location of the tree within the address and the reasons, and the page says there is no charge. It says the council prosecutes people who damage, destroy or remove a tree under a TPO, in a conservation area or in breach of planning conditions.

The application page says tree work consent covers three kinds of protection: a TPO, a conservation area and planning conditions. It asks for the reasons, every tree identified preferably on a plan, and exact details of the work. Applications go through the Planning Portal, where the "Work to trees or hedgerow removal" option is chosen at step 4, or by a downloaded form. The council states a 6 week period for conservation area trees and an 8 week period for trees under a TPO or planning conditions. For a conservation area tree, it says that with no reply inside the six week period the proposed work has deemed consent. For a TPO tree, it says the council sends a proposed tree works notice that the applicant displays on site for 14 days.

Overhanging trees and council trees

The overhanging page says that for private vegetation blocking a road or path, the council asks the owner to cut it back, writes again after 28 days giving a further 14 days' notice, and then arranges the work at the owner's expense. For a tree overhanging a neighbour's property that has no restriction, it says branches can be pruned back to the boundary line, and that a TPO, conservation area or restrictive planning condition means an application to the council comes first. For trees it looks after, it lists when it prunes: risk to people or property, branches within one metre of an inhabited home, clearance of 2.3 metres over pavements and 5.2 metres over roads, and tree health. It says it does not prune to reduce shading, leaf fall, bird droppings or other seasonal nuisance.

The report page gives response aims: inspect a reported street tree within 10 working days, complete works within 30 working days, and attend a danger to the public within 2 hours. The high-risk tree page says the council prunes or fells a tree with a high risk of falling or dropping branches and a significant impact, and publishes a list by street, ward and species with the action planned, labelled as updated on April 1, 2025. The pollarding page says the council aims to pollard in the colder months, mainly winter and spring, and does not pollard a tree with a nest. The planting page states a goal of 1,000 new street trees by April 2026 and a 2 year maintenance programme for each new tree.

Sources