Explanatory note

These Regulations replace the Town and Country Planning (Tree Preservation Order) Regulations 1969 and the Town and Country Planning (Tree Preservation Order) (Amendment) and (Trees in Conservation Areas) (Exempted Cases) Regulations 1975. They also amend the Town and Country Planning General Regulations 1992.

Part I of the Regulations defines terms used in the Regulations.

Part II prescribes the form of tree preservation orders and the procedure for their making, confirmation, variation and revocation. The prescribed form is set out in the Schedule to the Regulations.

Unless the works proposed are exempted by virtue of section 198(6) or (7) or section 200(3) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 or article 5 of the Order, the consent of the local planning authority is required before any tree protected by the Order may be cut down, topped, lopped, uprooted, damaged or destroyed.

The exemptions for which section 198(6) provides relate to the cutting down, uprooting, topping or lopping of trees which are dying, dead or have become dangerous, or the undertaking of those acts in compliance with obligations imposed by or under an Act of Parliament or so far as may be necessary for the prevention or abatement of a nuisance.

Section 198(7) provides exemptions relevant to section 39(2) of the Housing and Planning Act 1986 (c. 63) (saving for effect of section 2(4) of the Opencast Coal Act 1958 on land affected by a tree preservation order despite its repeal) and section 15 of the Forestry Act 1967 (c. 10) (licences under that Act to fell trees comprised in a tree preservation order).

Section 200(3) provides exemptions for the cutting down of a tree in relation to land where a plan of operations, or other working plan, has been approved by the Forestry Commissioners under a forestry dedication covenant, or under the conditions of a grant or loan made under section 1 of the Forestry Act 1979 (c. 21).

Article 9 of the prescribed form provides for compensation in respect of the refusal of consents or the grant of consents subject to conditions. (Compensation arising from replanting directions is provided for by section 204 of The Town and Country Planning Act 1990.)

Part I of Schedule 2 to the prescribed form sets out adaptations and modifications to provisions of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 which are applied by article 7 of the Order, and Part II of that Schedule sets out the provisions as they appear in consequence of those adaptations and modifications.

Part III of the Regulations makes special provision in relation to trees in conservation areas.

Part IV of the Regulations prescribes the procedure to be followed if an appeal in respect of an application made under a tree preservation order is to be disposed of without an inquiry or hearing. It provides for the submission of, and the opportunity to comment on, written representations by the appellant and the authority within prescribed time limits, and for the determination of appeals on the basis of the representations submitted within the prescribed time limits.

Regulation 17 in Part V amends the Town and Country Planning General Regulations 1992. The effect of the new provisions is that a local planning authority no longer has to apply to the Secretary of State for consent for the carrying out of certain works in relation to trees protected by a tree preservation order on land which it owns. The authority may authorise the carrying out of the works provided that the decision is taken by members or officers who are not directly involved with the management of the land to which the application for consent relates. New regulation 11A provides for publicity for applications, for the consideration of representations before a decision is made and for informing those who made representations of the authority’s decision.

Regulation 18 revokes, with savings, the Town and Country Planning (Tree Preservation Order) Regulations 1969, the Town and Country Planning (Tree Preservation Order) (Amendment) and (Trees in Conservation Areas) (Exempted Cases) Regulations 1975, the Town and Country Planning (Tree Preservation Order) (Amendment) Regulations 1981, the Town and Country Planning (Tree Preservation Order) (Amendment) Regulations 1988 and so much of the Electricity Act 1989 (Consequential Modifications of Subordinate Legislation) Order 1990 as relates to the Town and Country Planning (Tree Preservation Order) Regulations 1969.