How to apply for permission to prune trees in a Broadstairs conservation area, step by step.
Most people call it a conservation area permit. The paperwork is actually a section 211 notice: you tell Thanet District Council in writing what you intend to do to a tree, then wait six weeks. There is no fee, and it is not an application the council can refuse, though it can answer with a Tree Preservation Order. Here are the eight steps, in the order I do them for Broadstairs, St Peter's, Reading Street and Kingsgate jobs.
Steps
Step 1: Check whether your address is in a conservation area
Type your address into the council's conservation area location map. Thanet lists 27 conservation areas across the district, and four of them are on my Broadstairs patch: Broadstairs (including the north and south extensions dated 23 July 2009), St Peter's, Reading Street and Kingsgate. The council's own boundary maps are here: Broadstairs (north extension, south extension), St Peter's, Reading Street and Kingsgate. The full list sits on the council's conservation areas page.
If your plot straddles a line on the map, or the map and the street do not seem to agree, do not guess. The council says its mapping is a guide only, so email planning.services@thanet.gov.uk or ring 01843 577150 and ask. Outside a conservation area, and with no Tree Preservation Order, you need no notice at all.
Step 2: Check the plant really is a tree, and whether it has a TPO
The notice bites on trees, not on hedge plants. A tree here means a trunk of more than 75mm across, measured 1.5m above ground. The full size-and-type table, and how to measure, is in the Which trees need notice? section further down. Do this first with a tape measure, because in most Broadstairs hedges the answer is no, and you can stop.
Then check for a Tree Preservation Order on the council's TPO map (search by street or postcode). A TPO changes the route: you need the council's consent, applied for on the same national form, with an eight-week decision period, not a six-week notice.
Step 3: Decide exactly what you want done, and photograph it
Vague notices get sent back. Decide the specific work: "reduce the height by 1.5m and the road-side spread by 1m", "remove the lowest limb over the path", "fell to ground level". Take photos of the whole tree from two sides, plus one showing the tree against the house or boundary so the council can see scale. Photograph the tape on the trunk at 1.5m too. It proves the size test later.
Step 4: Gather what the council needs
A section 211 notice must describe the work and identify the tree. The government guidance says a plan is not compulsory but helps. A rough sketch map showing the tree against your boundaries, the house and the road also helps, as do the tree type and condition and your interest in the tree. Have ready:
- Your name, address and contact details, and whether you own the land (if the tree is on a neighbour's land, they must be the ones giving notice, or you need their written agreement first).
- The tree's exact location: house number, which side of the garden, distance from the boundary.
- The species, or a plain description if you are unsure ("hedgerow holly, about 6m").
- The work from step 3, and your reason ("clearance from the roof", "overhanging the footpath").
- Your sketch and photos.
Step 5: Submit it to Thanet District Council
Thanet's route for a conservation area tree notice is the national Planning Portal, where the application type is called "Notification of Proposed Works to Trees in Conservation Areas". If you would rather use paper, the council also points to the Works to Trees application form and the guidance notes. The council's own page for all of this is Works to protected trees. Note the date you submit: the notice must carry it, and the six weeks run from it.
Keep a copy of everything you send. The council should acknowledge it in writing, and if you hear nothing within a week or two, ring 01843 577150.
Step 6: Wait six weeks, and know what the council can do
Within the six weeks the council has three options: make a Tree Preservation Order if it thinks the tree is worth protecting, tell you the work can go ahead, or do nothing, in which case the six weeks simply run out. If it makes a TPO, the notice is over and you need a formal consent application for that tree. Do not start early on a contractor's say-so: work may begin before the six weeks are up only if the council gives its consent.
Worked timeline: notice submitted 5 October 2026, six weeks end 16 November 2026, and the work can be done at any time up to 5 October 2028 if no TPO is made. Late autumn and winter also keep you clear of the main bird nesting season.
The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 still applies after the six weeks
Passing the notice period gives you planning clearance, not permission to disturb birds. Section 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 makes it an offence to intentionally or recklessly damage or destroy an active nest. My practical caution window is 1 March to 31 August, and I check the whole tree for nests before any cut in those months. Gulls nest on roofs and chimneys, so I look twice near the cliff-top.
Step 7: After the notice: the two-year window, the contractor and the paperwork
If the six weeks pass with no TPO, you may do the work described in the notice within two years of the notice date. Only what the notice said: if you told the council "reduce by 1.5m", do not take 3m. Use a competent, insured tree worker, and ask for the work to follow BS 3998, the British Standard for tree work. Keep the notice, the acknowledgement and your photos for as long as you own the property. If a tree is removed, the law expects a replacement planted in the same place, of a suitable size and species.
Step 8: Dead and dangerous trees are different
Two exceptions. For a dead tree, give the council at least five working days' written notice first. For a tree that is an immediate risk of serious harm, do only what removes the risk and give written notice as soon as practicable afterwards. Thanet asks for both through its own 5-day dead or dangerous tree notice form, not by email, and expects evidence: a written statement from a competent person and clear photos, plus a location plan and a description of the works. A branch that merely looks untidy is not "dangerous".
Which trees need notice?
This is where most Broadstairs hedge jobs are decided. The rule is about size and about whether the plant is a tree, not about the species.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| How wide is the trunk? | More than 75mm across, measured over the bark at 1.5m above natural ground level. At or under 75mm, no notice. |
| Thinning to help other trees grow? | The threshold rises to 100mm for cutting down or uprooting purely to improve the growth of other trees (forestry-style thinning). |
| Which species? | Any. Native or not, evergreen or deciduous: holly, yew, holm oak, hornbeam, beech, field maple, ash, laurel, Leylandii and thuja all count once they pass the size test. |
| Several stems? | Measure each stem at 1.5m. If any one stem is over the limit, the small-tree exemption is lost for the whole tree. If it forks below 1.5m, measure each branch of the fork. |
| Trimming the hedge itself? | Routine clipping of a hedge grown as a hedge is not treated as work to a tree. Cutting into thick old stems, or reducing a plant left to grow as a tree, is. |
| Dead tree? | Five working days' written notice, with evidence. Dead branches on a living tree are normally exempt. |
| Dangerous tree? | Only what removes an immediate risk, with written notice as soon as practicable. |
| Fruit trees? | Pruning cultivated fruit trees in line with good horticultural practice is exempt. |
| Tree with a TPO? | Not a notice: a consent application, 8-week decision, still free to apply. |
How to measure: stand on the natural ground level, hold a tape at 1.5m up the trunk, and wrap it round the bark. Divide the circumference by 3.14 to get the diameter. A diameter of 75mm is a circumference of about 236mm. Worked example: an old holly standing in a boundary hedge reads 260mm round the tape at 1.5m. 260 / 3.14 = 83mm. That is over 75mm, so it is a tree, and reducing it needs a notice. The privet beside it reads 150mm round, which is 48mm across and is not caught. In the same hedge, the holly needs the paperwork and the privet does not.
What counts as work: cutting down, topping, lopping, uprooting, and wilful damage or destruction. For protected trees the government's view is that cutting the roots is a prohibited act too, so ask before you trench close to a stem. The Hedgerow Regulations 1997 are a separate regime, about removing countryside hedges, and sit outside all of this.
Get it wrong: doing the work without the notice is a criminal offence. The council quotes fines of up to £20,000 in the magistrates' court, and the Crown Court can impose an unlimited fine. The owner also has a duty to plant a replacement.
What to write in the notice: a Broadstairs example
This is the sort of wording that gets a notice accepted first time. It is an example only, not a form.
Section 211 notice: intended works to a tree in a conservation area. Date: 5 October 2026.
Owner: A. Sample, 00 Example Road, St Peter's, Broadstairs CT10. Conservation area: St Peter's.
Tree: one holly (Ilex aquifolium), about 6m tall, in the front boundary hedge, 2m in from the pavement. Trunk measures 260mm round at 1.5m. Sketch and photos attached.
Proposed work: reduce height by 1.5m and pavement-side spread by 1m to clear the footpath and first-floor windows, cutting back to suitable growth points to BS 3998. No removal proposed. Work to be done by a competent contractor after the notice period ends.
When to call me
Send me photos and your postcode and I will tell you, tree by tree, which stems in the hedge would need a notice and which would not, and whether your street is inside a conservation area. If a notice is needed I can help you prepare the wording and sketch. I do the pruning and reduction once the six weeks have passed. I do not do removals or stump grinding.
Related guides
Not sure whether your tree needs a notice?
Send a couple of photos, with a tape reading at chest height if you can, to hello@broadstairshedges.co.uk or call or WhatsApp 07763 100 477. I cover Broadstairs, St Peter's, Reading Street, Kingsgate and the CT10 bays. Quotes are fixed price.
Sources: GOV.UK, Tree Preservation Orders and trees in conservation areas; Planning Portal, Works to trees; Thanet District Council, Works to protected trees, Conservation areas, Conservation area location and Check tree preservation order online; Town and Country Planning Act 1990, sections 210 and 211; Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, section 1. Guidance only, not legal advice: ask Thanet's planning team if in doubt.