how private? & how well known are they to the neighbours, local busybodies; our masters?
to stay legal, issues you need to go into are:
Are you in a conservation area?
Any tree preservation orders in force [hedges can have these too]?
Any restrictive covenants in your house title?
How much are you wanting to cut back? There is a 5cubic metre/year timber cutting allowance - beyond that you must get a Forestry Commission licence to cut [ in addition to any other permissiion needed].
Discrete initial queries about your area and not specific to your property are advisable. Otherwise you may alert the council and get a preservation order or worse clamped down. If you become aware of impending restrictions, move fast.
Ask at your local council for leaflets about conservation areas, tree preservation orders and it may also be able to give you the Forestry Commission leaflet about felling timber.
If you do need to seek permission to deal with the trees, application is usually free, unlike normal planning permission
Cut them down, who is going to know unless you contct the local news team. Surely no one can be sad enough to have the time to watch you and then report your actions. I've cut a few trees down and got shut of a few in a skip!
AFAIK, unless there is a tree presrvation order, you can cut em down. The act of asking if there is an order, often resuts in one occouring, the reason being that as you are asking, they must be nice trees worth keeping.
The fine for knocking down preserved trees is not as much as the cost of keeping them. Also oonce planning see em, they may insist you keep em.
Round here devlopers move in, and chainsaw all the tress at say 4am, then they go for planning. This stops an order being made before they are finished. Any fines thay may get are just part of the cost-of-works.
A some people can be bothered about everything their neighbours are doing.....
so I have I in a previous house, however.
Did the trees have TPO? were they in a conservation area? if not then you are pretty much free to do what you want anyway.
To the OP's question. Someone else has mentioned finding out if they are covered by TPO's or conservation area status (you should have been told this when the house was purchased). You have to get permission (TPO)/notify the council of intended works, though there are exemptions such as those with trunks >75mm diameter
The rules are the same across the country (E&W I'm talking here, dunno about Scotland & NI)
Here is a link to the info on the Huntingdonshire DC website:
Many local authorities have sites covered by TPO's on their website it's worth a look. Another poster mentioned volume of timber removed and Forestry Commission licence I'm sure this does not apply to domestic situations and never heard of a hedge/shrub TPO! May be he is referring to Ancient Monument status of some very rare ancient hedgerows
Whilst I usually always follow the law to the letter (makes me sleep better at night...), waiting nearly two years for a planning permission, just because we were honest and clear about our plans has exhausted our patience for the council lot. They seem to take great pleasure in making your life difficult... One change alone to our plan resulted in an extra £10k added to the overall cost... Despite allowing the houses to the right and left of us doing exactly what we were planning to do, one only a year ago, they insisted that they cannot allow us to do it now...
I agree, chop them down first and don't bother asking questions later.
This is how it should be, if you buy the land/house etc then the trees are yours to do what you please, all these 'orders' and regulations are in place to prevent those who enquire from cutting them down, those that don't enquire chop them down anyway, and it's a bit late for anyone to do anything about it then.
If you go to google and search for prosecutions in the UK, there are none, even for developers who have cut down a lot at once. My advice is don't ask, just chop, if you ask the answer will more than likely be 'no' and worse still they will be keeping an eye on them from then on.
yes that is right - a fact omitted from the Forestry Commission leaflet & the allowance is per quarter, see:
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for taking the FF leaflet at face value. Be careful though, various comments that come my way indicate the FF are tetchy b*t*ds and will prosecute at the drop of a hat - 'garden' means just that, not attached paddocks or fields or woodland and so on..
It may be that the FF is a downtrodden dept and feels the need to raise its profile by wielding the big stick every so often. It may be underbudgetted too, & so need to raise funds - yes fines do go the Treasury, but costs go to the FF.
Hedges certainly can be protected, though my recollection is that it is done in a similar way to TPOs, I can't recall exact details.
All hedges within a Conservation are protected, garden or not, and whether or not they form a property boundary. Also 5 cubic m of tree isn't very much wood.
Finally would endorse comments by other posters re not drawing attention to your trees. TPOs can be imposed at the drop of a hat. Any contact with the council needs to be anonymous and vague, and refer to a large area - several parishes, 'north (or S E W) side of the District': ask for a list of conservation areas not a specific one; If you want to see a specific plan or details, ask to see several well separated ones. If they won't show you anything without a name or address, you are Mr Smith living at your great-granny's address and lookiing to move into the area and house hunting.
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