How to apply for permission to prune trees in St Margaret's at Cliffe and the Bay, step by step.
There is no "conservation area permit" to apply for. What Dover District Council wants is a section 211 notice: written notice of your intended tree work, at least six weeks before, at no cost. Here is how to give it, and why on this coast the weather has as much say in the timing as the council does.
Exposure for this job
- Clifftop / Bay (most exposed): the St Margaret's Bay conservation area. Trees here are shaped by salt and wind, so the notice should ask for modest, wind-aware work, and the timing has to leave room before autumn gales.
- Village / inland (moderate): the St Margarets-at-Cliffe conservation area (the council's spelling), covering the village itself. Less salt, but the same six-week notice and the same size test.
- Dover town / sheltered (least exposed): Dover has its own conservation areas. Gales matter less to timing, the notice is exactly the same.
Our conservation-area rules guide explains what the designation means for hedges and trees. This page is the application walkthrough, and every council link was checked against the council's own pages on 30 September 2026.
Step 1: check which conservation area your garden is in, if any
Dover District Council lists 57 conservation areas, and two of them are ours: St Margaret's Bay and St Margarets-at-Cliffe. They are separate areas on the council's map, so being outside one does not mean being outside the other. Search your postcode or street on the council's conservation area map; the conservation areas page has the appraisals, including the March 2023 St Margaret's Bay appraisal. Kingsdown, Ringwould and Dover's town areas are each separate again, so if your work is further along the coast, check there too.
The map says it is for viewing only. If your garden sits on a boundary line, ask the council's tree team to confirm in writing and keep the reply.
Step 2: is the plant a tree, and how exposed is it?
Notice is needed for a tree, meaning a trunk more than 75mm across, measured over the bark at 1.5m above the ground. Put a tape round the trunk at 1.5m and divide by 3.14. Worked example from a Bay garden: a holm oak standing in the front hedge measures 40cm round, which is about 127mm across. It is a tree. The escallonia beside it is 20cm round, about 64mm, so it is not. The line sits at roughly 23.6cm round. If there are several stems at 1.5m, one over 75mm is enough. The size test applies to every species, evergreen or deciduous, native or not, so holm oak, sycamore, hawthorn, holly, leylandii and laurel all count once they pass it.
| What you have | Notice needed? | Coastal note |
|---|---|---|
| Trunk over 75mm at 1.5m, any species (pruning, topping, lopping, cutting down, uprooting) | Yes, 6 weeks before | Windswept trees can be thick at the base and stunted above: measure, do not guess by height. |
| Trunk 75mm or under | No | Check for a TPO and for extra stems. |
| Hedge plants clipped as a hedge (escallonia, griselinia, privet, hornbeam) | No | Nesting law still applies, 1 March to 31 August. |
| Tree grown up through a clifftop hedge, over 75mm | Yes | Common where a hedge was left after a storm broke its top. |
| Dead tree | Five working days' written notice | By email, before the work, except in an emergency. |
| Immediately dangerous tree (for example after a gale) | Notice as soon as practicable | Only the work that removes the risk; photograph it first. |
| Fruit tree cultivated for fruit | Generally no | Listed as exempt by the council. |
| Tree already under a TPO | Different route | A TPO overrides the conservation area; apply for consent. |
The threshold and the exceptions are from the government guidance (GOV.UK: Tree Preservation Orders and trees in conservation areas). The council words the small-tree limit as "less than 75mm" where the national guidance says "does not exceed 75mm", so a trunk right on the line is a question for the council. Also check the tree on the council's TPO map. If it has an Order, you need formal consent through the Planning Portal instead. For a countryside field hedge, a separate regime applies (see the national hedgerow guidance).
Step 3: decide what you want done, in weather terms
Write the outcome first, then the operation. On the clifftop the honest reasons are often about wind and salt: a crown with too much sail that rocks in a gale, a limb over the neighbour's roof, a tree that has grown past the hedge and blocks the light. A modest reduction with a wind-permeable crown is more likely to suit the tree than a heavy cut that exposes soft growth to the next gale, so ask for a number you can defend, such as "reduce height by up to 1m". Photograph the tree from two sides with the house in shot for scale.
Step 4: write the notice
The law asks for a description of the work, enough detail to identify each tree, and the date. A plan is not compulsory but helps, and one notice can cover several trees and operations if it is clear what applies to which. Here is an example for a Bay garden (square brackets are yours):
Example notice
Subject: Section 211 notice, tree at [address], St Margaret's Bay CT15, St Margaret's Bay conservation area
I give notice under section 211 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 of my intention to prune the following tree on [date].
Tree: holm oak standing in the seaward boundary hedge, marked A on the attached sketch. Girth 40cm at 1.5m (about 127mm across). Work: reduce height by up to 1m and thin the crown by up to 15% to let wind pass through, cutting to suitable growth points and retaining its natural shape. Reason: the crown catches Channel gales and overhangs the neighbouring roof.
Photographs and sketch attached. Applicant: [name, address, phone, email]. Contractor: [name, phone]. Date sent: [date].
Step 5: send it, and keep proof
The council's tree protection page says to let it know by emailing tree.enquiries@dover.gov.uk. Attach the sketch and photographs, and keep the sent message, because its date is the date of your notice. The Planning Portal offers an online "Notification of Proposed Works to Trees in Conservation Areas" that reaches the same council, and the council has also published a paper notification form (PDF), though the law requires no particular form. There is no fee. Ask for an acknowledgement.
Step 6: the six weeks, and how they line up with the weather
Within six weeks the council can make a Tree Preservation Order, tell you the work can go ahead, or say nothing. It cannot refuse the notice or attach conditions. If it says nothing, you may do the work within two years of the date of the notice. If it makes a TPO, you would apply for consent instead. Do not start early unless the council says so in writing.
| If you send the notice | Six weeks end | Workable window | Weather and nesting note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Late July | Early September | September to early autumn | Nesting season is over and the worst gales have not arrived. The best slot for Bay gardens. |
| Late August or September | October | October to February | Legal and quiet for birds, but gales can cancel days on exposed sites. |
| November to January | December to March | Dry spells before March | Winter gale days are common; the two-year window gives you room to wait for a calm one. |
| February or March | April or May | Wait for September | Nesting season blocks the work, so the notice simply sits in its two-year window. |
The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, section 1, is not switched off by a notice: it is an offence to damage or destroy an active bird's nest, and the season runs roughly 1 March to 31 August. See our cutting timing and nesting season guide. A useful side effect of the two-year window is that you can send the notice now and book the work for a calm day.
Step 7: after the notice, and after a gale
Do the work described, and only that. Keep the sent email, the acknowledgement and your photographs, because the council keeps a public register and can compare the work with the notice. Anyone who arranges or carries out unauthorised work can be caught, not only the owner, so give your contractor a copy. For bigger jobs, the Arboricultural Association directory is a start for finding a qualified arborist.
A gale is the case where speed matters. A dead tree needs five working days' written notice by email to tree.enquiries@dover.gov.uk, except in an emergency. A tree with a hanging limb or a split trunk that presents an immediate risk of serious harm can be made safe straight away, with written notice as soon as practicable afterwards, but only the work that removes the risk. It is for the owner or contractor to show the tree was dangerous, so photograph it before anything is cut. If the danger is not immediate, use the normal notice. Our gale damage recovery guide covers the hedge side of it.
What if you skip the notice?
Cutting down, topping, lopping, uprooting or wilfully damaging a tree in a conservation area without a notice is a criminal offence: a fine of up to £20,000 in the magistrates' court, and an unlimited fine in the Crown Court for serious cases. It is simple to avoid.
Want a slot, or just a straight answer?
Email hello@stmargaretshedges.co.uk or call or WhatsApp 07763 100 477 with your postcode and a photo. We will tell you which trees in your hedge would need a notice and which would not, and we will do the pruning once the notice period has passed. The notice itself is yours to send as owner.
Sources, checked 30 September 2026: Town and Country Planning Act 1990, s.211; GOV.UK, Tree Preservation Orders and trees in conservation areas; Planning Portal, works to trees; Planning Portal, trees; Dover District Council, tree protection; Dover District Council, conservation areas; Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, s.1. General information, not legal advice; the council has the final say on your address.