Tree rules in Tower Hamlets: preservation orders and conservation areas
What the London Borough of Tower Hamlets' own pages and its Tree Management Plan say about its list of preservation orders, 58 conservation areas, 18 month and 36 month tree inspections, felling notices, and the one-to-one replacement ratio and CAVAT payments for development.
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 two Tower Hamlets Council pages and the council's Tree Management Plan 2020-2025, published in October 2020, as read on October 8, 2026. 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 Tower Hamlets' pages add.
Protected trees and the order list
The tree management page says trees with preservation orders, or in a conservation area, are protected by legislation that makes work without permission an offence, and offers an interactive map with a user guide for checking. It says consent to fell or prune a protected tree is sought on the national application form. This is the part particular to this borough: the council keeps its list of trees under orders and says it can be looked at by appointment at its offices in Clove Crescent, rather than as a download. The page lists past orders by number, for example an order confirmed on March 2, 2021 and another confirmed on December 14, 2017, and keeps the text of a 2022 consultation on two new orders: one for an ash tree on Thomas Road and one for ten plane trees on Blasker Walk. It gives the council's reasons: the ash is a mature tree in fair condition visible from the public realm, and the planes help define the character of the riverside Thames Path. The consultation deadline on the page was October 28, 2022. The page says cutting roots is also a prohibited activity in the Secretary of State's view.
The conservation areas page says the borough has 58 conservation areas, each with an adopted character appraisal and management guidelines, and that two of them, Fish Island and White Post Lane and Three Mills, are managed by the London Legacy Development Corporation.
What the Tree Management Plan states
The plan says the council manages around 25,000 trees, about 19,000 in 140 parks and open spaces and 6,000 street trees. Of the street trees, 70 percent are under 60 years old, 30 percent are London plane and 17 percent cherry. The plan sets two inspection bands after the Cavanagh v Witley Parish Council case. High target trees, within falling distance of a public highway or play equipment, are inspected by a qualified arboriculturalist every 18 months or sooner, and low target trees every 36 months or sooner. Trees with oak processionary moth are inspected twice a year, and trees recorded with massaria annually. Pollards are pruned every 2 to 4 years. Where a removal is not urgent, felling notices go up at least 1 week before the work and state the works and date.
For development, the plan says the council requires a minimum replacement ratio of 1:1 for removed trees, with replacement inside the site boundary where possible. Where council trees are lost and replanting cannot be done, a payment is made using the CAVAT valuation, used for replacement planting. Planning applications are to provide a tree survey and a retention and removal plan under BS 5837:2012 at pre-application stage.