Tree Preservation Order Glasgow: What to Do Before You Touch a Protected Tree

• Free, no-obligation site visits, including a check on TPO and conservation area status
• NPTC Professional Tree Inspection qualified assessments
• All work carried out to British Standard BS3998

If someone's mentioned a Tree Preservation Order on a tree of yours in Glasgow, the chances are you've either had a letter from the council, spotted a note on a title search when buying a house, or you're standing under an old tree wondering whether you're actually allowed to touch it. A TPO doesn't stop you owning or enjoying the tree as normal. It means you need written permission from Glasgow City Council before any cutting, topping, lopping, uprooting, or wilful damage to it, and carrying out that work without consent first is a criminal offence under Section 160 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997.

This page sets out how to check whether a tree is actually protected, what the council will and won't let you do without asking first, and where a proper survey earns its keep before anyone picks up a saw. You can search the register yourself through [[LINK:https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/article/3685/Tree-Preservation-Orders-TPOs|Glasgow City Council's Tree Preservation Order pages]], or have us confirm it as part of a site visit alongside a free quote for whatever work you're trying to get done.

• Checking whether a tree, group of trees, or area of woodland is listed on Glasgow City Council's TPO register, or sits inside a conservation area with its own separate protection
• A site survey recording species, height, spread, condition, and the exact work you're asking about, whether that's a crown reduction, formative pruning, deadwood removal, or felling
• Photographs and a written method statement to support a formal consent application to the council's tree officer
• Straight advice on which jobs might fall under the Section 160 exemptions, such as removing genuinely dead, dying, or dangerous branches, versus what needs a formal application first
• Submitting the application on your behalf and handling correspondence with the council while they assess it
• Carrying out the approved work once written consent is granted, using aerial or rigging techniques where the tree's size or the site demands it, all to BS3998
• A written note and photos of what was done and when, useful if a solicitor, insurer, or the council itself asks about it later

• There's no statutory fee for a TPO works application in Scotland, unlike a planning application, but a professional survey and method statement has its own cost, covered below
• We can't get a TPO removed, varied, or lifted from a tree. Only the council can amend or revoke an Order, and that's a separate administrative process from applying for consent to carry out works
• If the council attaches a condition requiring a replacement tree once an old one comes down, sourcing and planting that replacement is a separate cost on top of the removal
• Trees standing within the grounds of a listed building can need listed building consent as well as TPO consent. We'll flag it if we spot it, but we don't process that consent ourselves
• How long the council takes to reach a decision isn't something a tree surgeon has any control over, however good the paperwork is
• Genuinely dangerous trees can be dealt with under the emergency exemption without waiting for consent, but if the council later disputes that the danger was real, that risk sits with the tree's owner, not with us

1. You tell us what's going on -- Describe the tree, where it is, whether you've had a letter about a TPO or you're just not sure, and what you actually want done, whether that's a crown lift for light, deadwood removal, or felling because of subsidence or storm damage.
2. We check the TPO and conservation area status -- We confirm through the council's register whether that specific tree, or the area it's standing in, carries protection, and note the Order reference if there is one.
3. Site survey -- An NPTC Professional Tree Inspection qualified assessor looks at the tree in person, records its condition and species, and works out whether the job you want falls under an exemption or needs a formal application.
4. We prepare and submit the application -- A written method statement and photographs go to the council's tree officer, and we handle any follow-up questions from their side while it's being assessed.
5. Approved work carried out to BS3998 -- Once written consent comes through, or an exemption genuinely applies, the crew carries out the work using the right rigging, chainsaw-from-rope, or aerial technique for that particular tree, and clears the site afterwards.
6. Written record on completion -- You get a note and photos of what was done, which is worth having on file for a solicitor, an insurer, or if the council or a future buyer ever asks what happened to that tree.

There's no statutory application fee for TPO consent in Scotland, which catches some people out because it's different from planning permission. What you're paying for is the professional side: a site survey, species and condition assessment, and a written method statement the council's tree officer can actually assess, and that typically runs somewhere in the £150 to £300 range depending on how many trees are involved and how much detail the application needs. The cost of the tree work itself, once consent is granted, depends on the size of the tree, how the crew can access it, whether it needs rigging down in sections over a fence or a shed, and what happens to the arisings afterwards, whether that's chipping on site or removal. None of that can be priced sensibly over the phone. A full quote needs a site visit, which is free and comes with no obligation to go ahead.

We've traded as Glasgow Trees since 2005, and TPO work is a routine part of that, not a sideline. The team holds NPTC Professional Tree Inspection qualifications, which is the specific training for judging a tree's condition and risk properly rather than eyeballing it, alongside NPTC and Lantra certificates covering everything from small and large tree felling to aerial rescue, chainsaw-from-rope work, and rigging and dismantling, so the actual cutting is done by people trained for it rather than picked up on the job. That Professional Tree Inspection qualification is exactly what a TPO case turns on: it's the basis for deciding whether a branch genuinely falls under the Section 160 exemption for dead, dying, or dangerous wood, or whether the job needs a proper method statement put to the council's tree officer, and it's that trained judgement, not a guess, that goes into every survey and application we prepare. All work is carried out to British Standard BS3998, the recognised standard for tree work in the UK, and the business is fully insured throughout. Quotes, including the initial TPO status check, are free and come with no obligation.

Most TPO enquiries come from Glasgow itself, where mature trees in conservation areas like Pollokshields, Dowanhill, and Kelvinside are a common source of protected-tree questions, alongside individually listed trees dotted through the West End and around Pollok Country Park. Glasgow's tree canopy covers roughly 15% of the city, above the UK's urban average of 10%, and a fair share of that older canopy, the kind of specimen trees that are decades old and sit in gardens backing onto conservation areas, is exactly what tends to attract an Order. Beyond the city, we cover the same TPO and conservation area questions across Renfrew, Paisley, Johnstone, and Clydebank, out through East Renfrewshire towns like Newton Mearns, Giffnock, Clarkston, and Barrhead, and up into the leafier suburbs of Bearsden, Milngavie, Bishopbriggs, and Kirkintilloch, where large private gardens with mature specimen trees are common. Further out, we take on TPO-related work in Rutherglen, Cambuslang, Bothwell, Blantyre, East Kilbride, Hamilton, and across into Dumbarton and Greenock, as well as up towards Strathblane, Killearn, Balfron, Fintry, Kippen, Stirling, and Bo'ness.

A TPO doesn't go away because a branch is inconvenient or a tree's dropping leaves on the drive, and starting work before consent is confirmed turns an ordinary garden job into a criminal offence. Get in touch for a free site visit, and we'll check the tree's actual status, tell you honestly what will and won't need a formal application, and quote for the work itself once you know where you stand.

Glasgow Trees
Call 0141-483-7485