Belfast Council is to look at ways of transforming the Tree Protection Order system, with a view to demanding legislation change from Stormont.
At the full meeting of Belfast City Council this week, elected representatives agreed to commission a paper looking at improvements to the orders. TPOs fall under the control of Northern Ireland’s eleven councils, but the limits of them were set by the Stormont Department for Infrastructure.
Councils use TPOs to protect individual trees, groups of trees and woodlands, and may use them if removal is likely to have a significant impact on the local environment and its enjoyment by the public. If a tree is protected by a TPO, council consent must be gained before it can be pruned or felled.
