A Tree Preservation Order protects a specific tree, group of trees or woodland — and building work that affects its roots, canopy or growing conditions can need the council’s consent even if you’re not touching the tree itself.

What a TPO actually covers

A Tree Preservation Order (TPO) is made by a local planning authority under Part VIII of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and the Town and Country Planning (Tree Preservation) (England) Regulations 2012. Once an order is in place, it becomes an offence to cut down, top, lop, uproot, wilfully damage or wilfully destroy the protected tree without the council’s written consent. The order can cover a single tree, a group of trees, or a whole area of woodland, and it stays attached to the land rather than to whoever owned the property when it was made — so a TPO made decades ago still applies today, regardless of who’s planning the conservatory.

Why it matters for a conservatory, not just felling

Most homeowners assume a TPO only stops them cutting a tree down, and that building a conservatory nowhere near the trunk is unaffected. That’s not necessarily correct. “Wilful damage” under the regulations isn’t limited to chainsaw work — it can include anything that harms the tree’s roots, health or growing conditions, and excavating foundations, laying services, or changing ground levels within a protected tree’s root protection area can count. Because a conservatory’s base typically involves trench or raft foundations dug close to ground level, a badly sited design can bring the project directly into conflict with a TPO even though no branch is ever touched.

How to check before you design

Before finalising a conservatory design near any mature tree, it’s worth checking two things separately: whether a TPO exists on the tree at all, and, if one does, how close the protected root zone sits to your proposed footprint. Local authorities maintain records of TPOs affecting individual properties, and many publish interactive mapping tools or a register that can be searched by address. Don’t rely on visual assumptions about what looks old or significant — a TPO can cover a relatively young tree if the council judged it to have future amenity value, and conversely a large, established tree next to your garden might have no order on it at all.

Applying for consent to work near a protected tree

If a TPO does affect your plot, an application for consent is made to the local planning authority using a standard form, setting out which trees are affected, a description of the proposed works, and supporting evidence such as an arboricultural report where root protection is in question. Applications are checked for validity within a short administrative window, and the council will then assess the impact on the tree’s amenity value, whether the works are justified, and whether conditions — such as protective fencing during construction or a requirement to plant a replacement tree — should be attached. This process sits alongside, not instead of, any separate planning permission or permitted development check for the conservatory itself.

Conservation areas work differently

Trees in a conservation area can have a form of protection even without an individual TPO: anyone proposing work to a tree with a trunk over a certain diameter in a conservation area generally has to give the council six weeks’ written notice before doing anything, so the authority has the opportunity to consider making a TPO if it judges the tree worth protecting. If your conservatory site is both in a conservation area and near a mature tree, it’s worth treating that six-week notice period as part of your project timeline rather than an afterthought, since starting groundworks before the notice period has run can create the same problems as ignoring an existing TPO.

What happens if you don’t check first

• Damaging or destroying a tree protected by a TPO without consent is a criminal offence, and courts can impose an unlimited fine depending on the severity of the harm and any financial benefit gained from the work.
• Beyond the immediate penalty, the council can require a replacement tree to be planted, and can specify the species and size, which may not suit the garden layout you had in mind.
• A conservatory built in a way that damaged a protected tree’s roots can also leave a legacy problem if the tree later dies or becomes unstable, since root damage often takes years to show above ground.
• Raising it with the council before you design, rather than after a problem is spotted, is consistently the cheaper and less stressful route.

FAQs

Does a TPO stop me building a conservatory near a protected tree altogether?

Not necessarily — it means you need to check the impact on the tree’s roots and growing conditions and, in many cases, seek consent or advice before finalising the design, rather than being automatically barred from building nearby.

How do I find out if a tree on or near my property has a TPO?

Contact your local planning authority’s tree or planning department, or check their online TPO register or interactive map if they publish one, and search by address rather than assuming based on the tree’s appearance.

Does the six-week notice for conservation area trees apply to all trees?

It generally applies to trees above a certain trunk diameter that aren’t already covered by a TPO; very young or small trees may fall outside it, but check the specific threshold with your council rather than assuming.

Sources

This guide draws on the following primary sources, current as of 17 September 2026:

• GOV.UK: Tree Preservation Orders and trees in conservation areas
• legislation.gov.uk: The Town and Country Planning (Tree Preservation) (England) Regulations 2012

Related guides

Compare Conservatories is an independent guide. We may earn a fee from some links; this never affects what we write. This article is general information, not legal advice on any specific property — always confirm with your local planning authority or a qualified arboriculturist.