Tree rules in Redbridge: preservation orders and conservation areas
What the London Borough of Redbridge's own pages say about replacement details for felled order trees, the 5 day emergency notice, its borough-wide review of preservation orders, the 16 conservation areas, and the wards and years of its three-year street tree pruning programme.
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 three Redbridge Council pages as read on October 8, 2026: trees, tree protection and hedges; council trees; and protected buildings and conservation areas. 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 Redbridge's pages add.
Protected trees and applications
The tree protection page says it is a criminal offence to do works to or remove a protected tree without the council's permission, and that if unauthorised pruning or felling is allowed to happen, both the landowner and the contractor could be prosecuted. It gives the same trunk test as the national rules for conservation areas: all trees there with a trunk diameter over 75mm are automatically protected, and some may also carry an order. Trees can also be protected by conditions attached to a planning permission. Most protected tree work needs a formal application, which the page says can be made online and is free. It says the landowner is responsible for submitting the application and carrying out any approved works, and that the planning service only assesses them.
Replacement details and emergency notice
This is the part particular to this borough. For applications on order trees from December 1, 2025 that include felling one or more trees, the council says it requires the replacement details for the application to be valid. A like-for-like replacement is stated in the application, and a change of species or place needs full details, in the form or in a separate statement. The page cites a statutory duty on the landowner to replace a removed order tree and says failure can bring a Tree Replacement Notice and in some cases further legal action. The change does not apply to order tree applications without felling or to conservation area applications.
For emergency works, the page describes a 5 day notice: the planning service is contacted before the work, with photographic evidence of the tree in context and written evidence of the issue and the proposed remedy. It says emergency works apply where a tree is dangerous, for example split, or dead, and that all maintenance work still needs a formal application. A tree removed in an emergency must be replaced and the new tree inherits the protection.
The review of orders
The page states that the council is carrying out a borough-wide review and inspection of trees under orders in 2026, as part of a national project under the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government to improve local planning authority data. Arboricultural officers visit the sites to check the information held. Orders may be varied, for example for a mapping error or a changed species, revoked, for example where the tree was removed and the 4 year period to enforce replacement has expired, or newly made on valuable unprotected trees found in the review. It also invites public recommendations of high-value trees. A high hedge complaint carries a non-refundable fee of £1,075 per complainant address, per the page. The conservation areas page says the borough has 16 conservation areas, with a management proposals document and individual guidance.
Council trees
The council trees page says specialists inspect over 40,000 council trees on a three-year rotation. Over 21,000 street trees are inspected each year to note dead and dangerous trees, and every third year to consider pruning. The street pruning programme runs by ward group: April 2025 to March 2026 for Churchfields, Monkhams, South Woodford, Wanstead Park and Wanstead Village, April 2026 to March 2027 for eight wards from Clayhall to Valentines, and April 2027 to March 2028 for nine from Aldborough to Bridge. Most pollarded trees have all growth removed on a three year rotation between December and March. A 24-hour call-out deals with fallen branches and trees on the street, and the page says it is not normal to prune for light, views, leaf or fruit fall.