Bristol Conservation Areas: What Needs Notice or Permission for Trees, Solar Panels, Walls and Extensions

Choose the job and see what Bristol City Council asks for: six weeks' notice for a tree, five working days for a dangerous one, permission for solar panels on a road-facing wall, extra Article 4 rules on walls and hard standings, and what happens if you skip it.

Updated 13 November 2026

A tree surgeon in a harness high in a large tree above a row of Georgian townhouses in a Bristol conservation area

Before the chainsaw or the drill

A tree with a trunk of 75 mm or more in a conservation area is protected: tell the council six weeks ahead and wait.
A dead or dangerous tree needs five working days' notice, and a merely dying one no longer qualifies.
Solar panels on a road-facing wall in a conservation area need planning permission, and so does a longer rear extension.
Bristol has 33 conservation areas, and a handful of streets have extra Article 4 rules on walls, gates and hard standings.

Which job are you about to book?

Pick the work and the card shows what the council asks for, how long it takes and what happens if you skip it. First find out whether your street is in a conservation area on the council's Know Your Place map.

The job

Not sure the tree has a TPO? The council's Pinpoint map shows the TPO layers, and its conservation area status sits under "Historic information".

Streets and estates with extra controls

Outside the HMO rules (see the shared house guide), the council lists six more Article 4 directions that take away permitted development rights. If your property is inside one, work that would normally need no permission does.

Direction	What now needs permission	In force since
Cotham and Redland Conservation Area	Demolishing a front garden wall, fence, gate or other enclosure, and forming hard standings	4 November 2012
Henleaze	Demolishing a gate, fence, wall or other means of enclosure	22 April 2021
Grove Wood and Blackberry Hill	Altering or extending walls, gates and fences, and siting buildings or movable structures on the land	9 November 2009
Land at Sherrin Way	Altering or extending a house, and building walls, gates or fences	26 July 1982
Clifton Village: Royal York Crescent, Cornwallis Crescent, Caledonia Place and West Mall	Any external alteration that changes how the properties look	July 1974
Henbury	Altering or extending a house, and building walls, gates or fences	1971

Hiring someone who will apply properly

Tree surgeons

The council cannot recommend a contractor, and points to the Arboricultural Association's list of approved contractors. Ask any tree surgeon who will send the notice, and for the specification in metres removed or the height and width left. Photos of every tree speed up the answer.

Solar and roofing

Ask a solar panel installer to say in writing whether your wall faces the road, how far the array sticks out and whether it passes the permission tests above. A roofer fitting panels should be told about the conservation area before the quote.

Building work

For extensions, house extension builders and loft conversion companies should put the conservation area on the quote. An architect can run the pre-application enquiry that major work needs.

A permission decision usually takes eight weeks, or up to thirteen for major work, and that period includes 21 days when neighbours are consulted. Plan the builder's start date around it.

Gaps in what the council publishes

The council's pages were read on 13 November 2026 and have no date of their own, so rules may change. We did not open the Know Your Place or Pinpoint maps, which need a live session, and we found no general council rule for windows, doors or paint. The conservation areas are 33 in number but we have not listed them: the map is the official source. This is general information and not planning advice.