Tree felling and tree surgery: check the permissions first

Felling removes a tree completely. In a garden, that is rarely done by cutting at the base: tree surgeons usually take the tree down in sections, lowering heavy pieces on ropes to protect buildings, fences and plants below. Pruning ranges from a crown lift, which raises the lowest branches, to a crown reduction or thinning. Stump grinding removes the stump below ground level after felling, so the area can be replanted, turfed or paved.

Storm damage is the urgent case: a split trunk, a hanging branch or a tree leaning on a roof. This work is among the most dangerous in the trade, because the timber is under tension and can move without warning. Keep people away and leave it to a tree surgeon with the right equipment.

A Tree Preservation Order (TPO) protects a tree, group or woodland for its amenity value. In England, cutting down, topping, lopping, uprooting or damaging a protected tree without the local planning authority's consent is an offence, with some exceptions, for example for dead trees, where 5 working days' written notice is normally needed, or for work that is urgently necessary because of an immediate risk of serious harm. Your council can tell you whether a tree is protected, and the local land charges search shows it too.

Trees in a conservation area that do not have a TPO are still protected. You have to give the council 6 weeks' notice, known as a section 211 notice, before most work on them. In that time the council can decide to make a TPO or let the work go ahead. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have similar systems with their own procedures.

Source: gov.uk

The Forestry Commission issues felling licences in England, and licences are free. They are needed for felling growing trees above set sizes where more than 5 cubic metres of timber is felled in a calendar quarter. Garden trees, however, fall under an exception, so a typical garden job does not need one. Felling licences matter for woodland, fields, larger estates and land that is not a garden. Where a licence is needed and none is held, everyone involved in the felling can be prosecuted.

Source: gov.uk

Tree work during spring and summer has to allow for nesting birds, because it is an offence to damage or destroy an active nest. Bats roost in cracks, cavities and behind loose bark, and all bat species and their roosts are protected. A tree surgeon should inspect the tree before work and stop if a roost or active nest is found; delaying the job by a few weeks is often the simplest answer.

Tree work is not a job for a general handyman with a chainsaw. Ask about the training and qualifications of the people who will climb and cut, the firm's public liability insurance, and whether it will handle the TPO application or conservation area notice for you. Many will. The quote should state exactly what is being done: which tree, which branches, to what extent, and what happens to the wood and the stump.

• species, rough height and position of the tree, with photos
• what is near it: buildings, power lines, greenhouses, neighbours' gardens
• access for a chipper, and whether the logs should stay or go
• whether the stump is ground out, and to what depth
• who applies for consent if the tree is protected
• whether the arisings are taken away by a registered waste carrier

Branches from a neighbour's tree that hang over your garden can be trimmed, but only up to the property boundary. Going further, or damaging the tree, can lead to a claim for damage to the neighbour's property. If the tree is protected by a TPO or stands in a conservation area, you may need the council's permission even for trimming. Talking to the neighbour before the tree surgeon arrives avoids most disputes, and a joint job often costs less than two separate ones.

Send us the details of the tree and the work. We confirm your phone number by text code and your email by link, and then offer the request to tree surgeons in your area without your name or contact details. One firm buys it; after that it is off the market. We email you that firm's name, address and phone number before it gets your details. For you, the service is free.

We cannot promise a tree surgeon will take every request, and one that nobody buys is withdrawn after 21 days. You never have to accept a quote. Offrano only checks that the buyer is a registered business, so ask for proof of insurance and training yourself.