Tree surgeons in Harpenden
Harpenden is a conservation area town with a common running through the middle of it. Big garden trees, long-established boundaries and a published character statement mean most of the work here starts with a permissions check rather than a saw.
About Harpenden
Harpenden has its own named conservation area in the St Albans district list, with a character statement adopted in April 2008 that describes what the council considers worth keeping. Inside that boundary, cutting a tree with a trunk over 75mm in diameter at 1.5m needs six weeks' written notice to the council before anything starts, whether or not the tree carries a Tree Preservation Order. Outside the boundary the constraint is any individual or area TPO on the property. Either way we run the check first and tell you which of the two you are dealing with before we price the job.
What is protected in Harpenden
Named conservation area, so the six-week section 211 notice applies to almost every mature garden tree inside the boundary. Individual and area TPOs sit on top of that and can apply anywhere in the town. The council operates a fast-track service that can give a decision by the end of the fourth week after validation, which is worth knowing if you are working to a build programme or a sale.
The trees round here
Harpenden Common covers 94 hectares, about 233 acres, and runs nearly two miles south from the town centre, with Nomansland Common beyond it. Gardens that back onto common land tend to hold older standard trees than the newer estates do, and the boundary between private garden and common ground is not always where people assume it is. We establish who owns the tree before we quote, because on a boundary that answer changes who is allowed to instruct the work.
Harpenden postcodes we cover
AL5.
Do you need permission to work on a tree in Harpenden?
Harpenden has its own named conservation area with a character statement the council adopted in April 2008, so plenty of trees here sit under the six-week written notice rule, and others carry Tree Preservation Orders with an eight-week decision clock. Getting that wrong costs up to £20,000 per tree in Harpenden, and "per tree" means a row of five is five offences. We check the register before we price any Harpenden job, we lodge the paperwork ourselves, and where the council's four-week fast track fits your timetable we use it. The full detail is in our guide to Tree Preservation Orders in St Albans.
What we do in Harpenden
- TPO register checked first We check the protected-tree position before we quote, on every job.
- Fixed written quotes Scope, access, waste and price on one sheet, before anyone climbs.
- No cold calling, ever We never knock doors after a storm and we never leaflet a price.
- Insured, qualified climbers Public liability cover on every job. Ask and we send the certificate.
Get a price in Harpenden
Free site visit, the protected-tree position checked, then a fixed price in writing.