Orchard Network

Tree Preservation Orders (TPO) can be made under the Town & Country Planning Act and give statutory protection to trees specified in the order. Contrary to popular belief, they can be made to protect orchard trees but they must be seen pretty much as a last ditch defence.

Section 198 of the Act says:

"If it appears to a Local Planning Authority that it is expedient in the interests of amenity to make provision for the preservation of trees or woodlands in their area, they may make for that purpose an order with respect to such trees groups or woodlands as may be specified in the order."

Factors justifying the test of expediency might include threat of felling, likely development or maybe a change of property ownership. The perceived threat does not necessarily have to be immediate and the order may be made on a precautionary basis as long as the risk is reasoned and reasonable.

While amenity is not defined in the act it has been accepted as meaning: pleasant circumstances, features or advantages; all the benefits that accrue; a useful or desirable feature of a place or pleasantness - a thing or circumstance that makes life more pleasant.

LPAs should assess amenity value in a structured and consistent way taking into account:

• Visibility – contrary to popular belief, although visibility is important, it is not an exclusive requirement
• Context in the physical, cultural & historic landscape
• Biodiversity value - PPS9: Biodiversity and Geological Conservation & the NERC Act: both recognise that biodiversity value can be a fundamental qualifying feature of a TPO.

There are excemptions included in the form of the order itself which says:

Nothing …shall prevent:

• The cutting down, topping, lopping or uprooting of a tree cultivated for the production of fruit in the course of a business or trade where such work is in the interests of that business or trade;
• The pruning, in accordance with good horticultural practice, of any tree cultivated for the production of fruit;

Nevertheless, all is not lost and if commercial activity has ceased, a TPO can prevent removal and/or inappropriate pruning of orchard trees. Regrettably, it would not necessarily retain the orchard in a “traditional” manner, as it would afford no control over the ground vegetation.

National Links

Tree Preservation Orders: A Guide to the Law & Good Practice