Useful Stuff

Wandsworth Council undertakes regular surveys of all its public housing and street trees across the borough, plus 90% of its park trees.  Council records indicate that Wandsworth currently has approximately 52,000 trees (excluding trees in private gardens), broken down into the following categories:

The coloured strip at the top of the tree stake identifies the year in which the tree was planted. Recent annual plantings are coloured coded as follows:

A TPO are made by the local planning authority (Wandsworth Council) to protect specific trees or a particular area, group or woodland from deliberate damage and destruction. A TPO can be made very quickly and can prevent the felling, lopping, uprooting or otherwise wilful damage of trees without the permission of Wandsworth Borough Council’s planning department.

The criteria for a tree to be considered for a TPO is high amenity value, good condition, visible, visual impact, rarity and proximity to property. A TPO for a tree in a back garden is very rare.

Each year Wandsworth Council agrees an annual tree planting plan. In 2017/2018 over 1000 new trees were planted across the borough. This was exceptional and the usual number of trees planted each year is between 200 and 400, which includes parks as well as street trees. The Council maintains a database identifying potential planting sites but welcomes suggestions and requests for new locations put forward by residents and Tree Wardens. A possible site for a tree may include an existing empty ‘tree pit’ (a space where a tree was previously planted and may have died) or a completely new location.

Occasionally, where there are extensive gas, water or service pipes running underground or cables and lighting overhead, it may not be possible to plant a tree in a particular location, but most requests to plant a tree are met.