TE11: Tree surgery

This item is part of Capital Grants 2025. You must read the Capital Grants 2025 guidance to understand the rules and how to apply.

If you’re applying for this item as part of a Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier (CSHT) application, you must read the CSHT applicant’s guide to understand the rules and how to apply.

How much you’ll be paid

You’ll need to use the following codes when applying for different purposes for this capital item.

How this item benefits the environment

Tree surgery maintains and enhances the character of the landscape by managing and restoring mature trees, prolonging their lives and maintaining their wildlife and historic value.

Where you can use this item

You can only use this item for tree surgery on mature, fully grown trees.

You cannot use this item on bush orchards. These are defined as intensively managed top fruit crops including apples, pears, cherries and plums, grown on non-vigorous rootstocks.

What you must do to use this item

You must:

• carry out tree surgery between 1 September and the end of February
• carry out the first pollarding on trees with a diameter at breast height of less than 40cm (20cm for oak and beech)
• control competing weeds as the site regenerates
• remove cut material from the site or tidy it into piles
• carry out checks for nesting birds and roosting bats before starting any work

When working on limbs over 20cm diameter, you must get a written assessment of the work that needs to be done from an appropriately qualified arboricultural expert or Forestry Commission adviser.

The assessment must:

• lay out the intended outcome of the work
• explain how you’ll maintain the long-term health and viability of the trees to be cut
• explain the requirements for subsequent management

You can pay for this using PA1: Implementation plan or PA2: Feasibility study.

You must:

• carry out the works identified in this assessment
• cut the tree cleanly at a height which prevents grazing of re-growth

You must not use:

• this item for work required for health and safety purposes
• a tractor-mounted shear to carry out the surgery

Evidence you must keep

You must keep photographs of the completed work and provide them with your claim.

You must also keep and provide on request:

• any consents, permissions, plans or studies connected with the work
• receipted invoices or bank statements where a receipted invoice is unavailable
• photographs of the trees you’ll manage

Read the record keeping and site visit requirements in the Agreement holder’s guide: Capital Grants, Higher Tier capital grants and Protection and Infrastructure grants for more information.

If you’re applying for this item as part of a Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier (CSHT) application, read the record keeping and site visit requirements in the CSHT agreement holder’s guide.

Advice to help you use this item

The following advice may help you to use this item, but you do not have to follow it to get paid. It’s not part of this item’s requirements.

Managing the site

Tree surgery and working at height requires specialist skills. Read about the common sense risk management of trees.

An appropriately qualified arboricultural expert is defined as:

• an individual who has achieved an RQF (Regulated Qualifications Framework) Level 4 qualification or higher in Arboriculture – this means at least the Level 4 Award in Arboriculture or its predecessor the Level 3 Technicians Certificate in Arboriculture
• is a member of the Arboricultural Association at Technician level or higher

When reintroducing pollarding on mature trees after a long gap, consider adopting some of the same techniques that are applied to veteran pollards.

In a group of pollards, trial on an individual tree or leave longer stubs to test the response.

Limbs that branch from below the height of the first pollard cut do not need to be cut.

Where practical, angle cuts away from the centre of the crown during tree surgery to allow water to run off.

Dispose of cut material by stacking it in piles on site or removing it from the site. Leave material in as large pieces as possible and do not stack against the trees that have been cut.

Small branches and twigs (under 10cm in diameter) can be burnt on site provided trees are not damaged. Avoid disposal on sensitive habitats or land with historic features.

Fire sites should be a minimum of 10m from the canopy of any tree.

Consents and permissions

Check if you need consent or permission to carry out work:

• Tree Preservation Orders (TPOs) and Conservation Orders may apply to the trees on site
• a licence from Natural England to carry out work on old trees