What is a conservation area? Conservation areas exist to manage and protect the special architectural and historic interest of a place – in other words, the features that make it unique. Every local authority in England has at least one conservation area and there are around 10,000 in England. 

So how does this affect trees? Effectively the same rules that apply to TPO trees apply also to trees within a conservation area. Essentially, they cannot be worked on without approval. However this only affects trees/shrubs with a stem diameter of greater than 7.5cm dbh (diameter at breast height) . Planning permission is required however, from the time of receipt of the application, if the local authority have not responded within 8 weeks then permission for the work applied for is granted by default.

Like with TPO’s conservation areas are shown on Leeds City Councils TPO map. The conservation areas are shown in blue as opposed to the TPO’s shown in green