Our responsibilities
It is the landowner's responsibility to look after trees on their property.
We are only responsible for trees on land we own. We look after trees in:
- public open spaces
- parks
We don't look after trees, hedges and shrubs on private land, including land that is next to roads and pavements.
Trees on public land are looked after by:
- Essex County Council look after trees on highways , footpaths and bridges
- Eastlight Community Homes look after trees in residential areas, housing estates and adjacent areas
- Parish Councils look after trees in villages
You can look at the Land Registry to find out who owns a piece of land.
Protected trees
Some trees, regardless of who owns them, may be in a conservation area or covered by a tree protection order. To carry out work on these trees you will need to submit a Tree application.
To find out if a tree has a protection order, you can:
- view the TPO register The register is updated at the start of every month
- view a list of conversation areas
Dangerous trees
We can take action where a tree poses an immediate and high degree of threat to the public, no matter whose land it is on.
You can contact our Landscape Services team if you are worried that a tree is causing a danger to people.
